246 PASSERES. — FRINGILLAD^. 



is said to have procured several male and female 

 Canaries, which he set at large in the fields about 

 the rectory at Black River, where they have mul- 

 tiplied, and have become wild birds of the country. 

 Many of our grasses produce farinaceous seeds, ex- 

 tremely nutritious, and supply quite a substitute for 

 the canary-seed of the African islands. I presume 

 our birds derive their intensity of colour from this 

 sort of food. They are a beautiful variety of the 

 natural stock. Of their song I have never been 

 able to learn anything very distinct, except that 

 heard in the thickets with other birds, it sounds 

 neither loud nor thrilling, and can barely be re- 

 cognised as that of the bird of the aviary. It is 

 said to have lost all its versatility with its power. 

 Though these imported Canaries have increased so 

 much, as to be perceptibly common, they are con- 

 fined to a very small range of country, being ob- 

 served nowhere but in the neighbourhood of the 

 place where the first colony was established. A 

 friend writes me, between Bluefields and Black 

 River." 



The evidence of the origin of these birds, seems 

 thus very distinct ; and yet the plumage is that 

 never known to be assumed by the true Canary, 

 while it agrees exactly with the Brazilian species, 

 which, Spix says, *' inhabits the fields of Minas 

 Geraes, and is named Canary." The plumage of 

 the wild Canary, in its native islands, is said to be 

 less vivid than that of caged specimens. It is pos- 

 sible that the Brazilian birds may have descended 

 from imported birds ; or, on the other hand, that 



