CANARY CULTURE 1 9 1 



ear and a memory of sound unrivalled by any other 

 species of canary, or indeed by any bird at all. It 

 is said that some German canaries have known and 

 habitually reproduced the complete song of twenty- 

 two other species of bird, including the nightingale, 

 the skylark, the goldfinch, the woodlark, and the 

 linnet. These German birds seldom live long in this 

 country, but are bought at high prices to put among 

 young canaries, to whom they act as tutors, singing, 

 like Orpheus, till they die. Sometimes in the ecstasy 

 of song these birds actually cause their own deaths 

 bursting a blood-vessel by the extraordinary effort to 

 compass some loud or unusual note. 



It would be interesting to know whether the English 

 canary is so completely domesticated as to have lost 

 the power of returning to the wild life, and of rearing 

 its young in sufficient numbers to make the experi- 

 ment of reversion to the original form possible. Those 

 that escape from cages do not seem happy in their 

 freedom, even if the scene of their wanderings be 

 English country gardens in summer-time. Probably 

 the winter would be too severe for them to survive in 

 this country. But the result of releasing a few dozen 

 cheap yellow canaries in their own islands would be 

 worth observing -by those European residents who 

 now make the islands not only a winter resort but a 

 permanent home. 



