Italy was the first European country where the canary 

 was reared. At first their education was difiScult, as 

 the proper manner of treating them was unknown ; 

 and what tended to make them scarce was, that only 

 the male birds were brought over — no females. 



"The grey of its primitive colour, darker on the 

 back and greener on the belly, has undergone so many 

 changes from its being domesticated, from the climate 

 and from the union with birds analogous to it (in 

 Italy, with the citril finch, the serin ; and in our 

 own country with the linnet, the green finch, the 

 siskin, and the goldfinch), that now we have canaries 

 of all colours. If we had not sufficient proof that 

 canaries came originally from the Fortunate Islands, 

 we should think the citril finch, the serin, and the 

 siskin, were the wild stock of this domesticated race. 

 I have seen a bird whose parent birds were a siskin 

 and serin, which perfectly resembled a variety of the 

 canary, which is called the green. I have also seen 

 mules from a female grey canary, in which was no 

 trace of their true parentage. The grey, the yellow, 

 the white, the blackish and the chesnut, are the 

 principal varieties, and it is from their combination, 

 and their tints, that we derive the numerous varieties 

 that we now possess." Those birds that have the upper 

 part of the body of a dusky grey or linnet brown, and 

 the under part of the yellowish green of the green- 



