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OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



guests put sunshine and good humor into a 

 family; a taste for birds gives useful occupa- 

 tion, their management a healthy habit, and 

 though we must keep them caged, they are the 

 liveliest and often the most welcome members 



The Norwich Canary 



of the household. The most popular among 

 them is, of course, the canarw 



I. The Canary 



Though we keep canaries especially for their 

 song, they are also raised for their color ; in 

 fact, they may be called the jewels of the 

 aviary. The ancestor of our tamed canary 

 (Scriniis caiiariiis), which belongs to the finch 

 family, is not handsome, neither are his de- 

 scendants unless the wit and art of man invent 

 improvements. The wild canary has a greenish- 



}ello\v body with gray tail and wings. He is 

 still to be seen in great numbers in the Canary 

 Islands, in Madeira, and at St. Helena, whence 

 they are sent to England to propagate. When 

 the Canary Islands were conquered in 1478, 

 great numbers were carried over into Spain, 

 and from there they spread through Europe. 

 They became the favorite pets of women, 

 and in many of the ancient pictures (Gian 

 Bellini's, for example) we see them perch- 

 ing in some corner, or perhaps on a lady's 

 finger. 



Tyrol and the country about Innsbruck 

 were especially active in the propagation 

 of these little songsters, sending them into 

 Germany and Austria. The Netherlands, 

 long under the rule of Spain, had its share 

 of this trade ; in fact, towards the end of 

 the sixteenth century it raised a special 

 breed of its own. Before inquiring how 

 these little creatures content themselves 

 with the house and food offered to them by 

 man, let us see how they manage for them- 

 selves in their wild state. 



Like so many other birds, they build their 

 nests in hidden places, but as these nests 

 are never very high from the ground, it is 

 easy to discover them. They choose young, 

 slender trees. The shape of the nest is 

 round, very wide at the base and very nar- 

 row at the top. Some naturalists say that 

 canaries make these nests of vegetable 

 down and any soft substances found here 

 and there rather than of twigs and spears 

 of grass. 



The hen bird lays an egg every day until 

 she has five. These eggs of the wild canary are 

 a pale sea-green with small maroon or black 

 spots, which nearly always collect in a circle at 

 one end. The egg of the tame canary does not 

 differ from that of the wild bird except that it 

 is more nearly round. After thirteen days of 

 incubation and thirteen days more in the nest 

 the young birds are able to fly, but their parents 

 feed them for some time longer on seeds of 

 grasses and the soft flesh of figs. The wild 

 canary delights in baths, which should therefore 

 be amply supplied to his tame descendant. 



