CANARY. 81 



mixed with a few dry grass-stems. The eggs are four or five in number, 

 bluish green in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with reddish brown ; 

 they measure about '8 inch in length, and about '55 inch in breadth. 

 According to Dr. Bolle the Canary will rear as many as four broods in the 

 season, but sometimes only three. The female alone performs the duties 

 of incubation, and the male may often be seen perched on a bush or tree 

 near at hand warbling forth his song. 



The song of the Canary is too well known to need description ; but it 

 seems that domestication has increased the beauty of its notes, for it is 

 said that birds in confinement possess a better song than those in a wild 

 state. After the breeding -season the birds unite into flocks, and search for 

 food in company. When alarmed they fly off in a straggling train like 

 Linnets, continually calling to each other as they go. Their flight is very 

 similar to that of the Linnet, and is usually only prolonged from tree to 

 tree ; they are, however, capable of taking long flights ; and Mr. Godman 

 remarks that on the island of Fayal the birds congregate towards evening 

 near a small hill, and cross in a body to the island of Pico. In their 

 habits at nightfall they very closely resemble Bramblings, and at the 

 selected roosting-place are very noisy. 



The food of the Canary consists of seeds of various kinds, and fruits, 

 especially figs, of which it is said to be very fond. There can be little 

 doubt that it also feeds on insects, as all other Finches doubtless do more 

 or less. 



From the beginning of the sixteenth century the Canary has been a 

 highly-prized cage-bird, and is still as popular as ever. In Germany it 

 is in even higher repute than in this country ; it is the favourite cage-bird ; 

 and great numbers are bred there every year, as well as in England. 

 Canary-breeding has almost reached the dignity of a science ; its devotees 

 have their societies and their shows, and the perfection of breeding and 

 the varieties obtained by judicious intercrossing are most remarkable. 

 Many wild birds are still caught on their rocky isolated retreats, and 

 scarcely a person visits the islands without bringing away with him a 

 bird or two under the delusion that they are real souvenirs of the place. 

 But by far the greater number brought from the islands yearly are not 

 native : the demand far exceeds the supply ; and tame-bred birds are 

 actually imported from England and Germany and sold there as natives. 

 Wild birds, it is said, do not bear confinement well, and do not breed 

 so freely as those bred in cages. In confinement the female sometimes 

 sings as sweetly as the male. 



The wild Canary is quite a different-looking bird from that usually seen 

 in cages. It has the crown yellowish green, narrowly streaked with 

 blackish brown ; the feathers of the back and the upper tail-coverts are 

 blackish brown, broadly margined with grey, and marked with olive-green ; 



VOL. II. 



