CANARY BIRDS. 221 



former companion, but by four full-grown young ones, when 

 she entered the cage and fed as usual. But as she could not 

 persuade her brood to follow her example, she finally went 

 off, and from that time was never seen again. 



Small birds seldom live above eight or ten years, but 

 Goldfinches have been known to live sixteen or eighteen 

 years. We have the authority of a very eminent naturalist, 

 for one having attained to the age of twenty -three years ;* 

 at last it grew so infirm, that the people to whom it belonged 

 were obliged to scrape its beak and claws, that it might eat, 

 drink, and sit upon its perch. It had subsisted on poppy- 

 seeds chiefly, and had lost its power of flying, and all its 

 feathers had become white, which is contrary to what has 

 been usually observed in aged small birds, whose plumage at 

 times assumes a darker shade, particularly if fed much upon 

 hemp-seed. Thus there are instances of Goldfinches, Bull- 

 finches, and Larks becoming almost entirely black. 



So nearly allied are Canaries to Goldfinches, that they 

 will breed together, and the produce is a very pretty bird 

 (called a Mule), with a strong clear voice, which, in addition 

 to its scarcity, causes it to be much valued, and commands a 

 high price. And yet, nearly connected as they are, the 

 Canary is entirely of foreign origin, being a native of the 

 Canaries (from whence they took their name), a cluster of 

 islands in the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Africa. They 

 are very indifferent flyers, which may account for their never 

 having migrated like other birds, and being thus occasionally 

 found in their wild state in other countries. They accord- 

 ingly for a long time remained unknown in Europe ; indeed 

 it was not till the enterprising reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 about three hundred years ago, when so many of our now 

 common fruits and vegetables, such as nectarines, potatos, 

 &c., and even poultry, such as Turkeys, &c., first found their 

 way into England, that Canaries were introduced ; and they 

 were then for a time so prized and scarce, that none but the 

 most wealthy could purchase them. But the desire of hav- 

 ing them seems rapidly to have spread, for not long after, the 

 * Gesner. 



