THE CANARY. 277 



rump is mottled with black and white; the throat spotted 

 with the same colours ; the upper part of the breast whitish 

 grey ; the rest of the lower part of the body white. The 

 foremost pen feathers are black ; the rest, as well as the wing- 

 coverts, white ; the tail feathers are white, tipped with black, 

 with the exception of the two external ones, which are entirely 

 white, and the two in the centre, which are altogether black. 



The female is hardly distinguishable from the male. The 

 head is grey, tinged with red ; and all the lower part of the 

 body is snow white, except the breast, which has a dingy 

 appearance, and the sides, which are spotted with black. 



Observations. This bird is a native of the mountainous 

 districts in the South of Europe, but reaches Central Germany 

 in its migrations. I have seen it in Thuringia, among small 

 flocks of the Mountain Finch, with which it may frequently 

 be caught on the decoy-bush. It is a lively bird in the cage, 

 and may be fed on millet, rape and hemp seed, though appear- 

 ing to prefer to any other food the seeds of the fir tree, and of 

 wild hemp (Gallopsis Cannabina, LIN). It is not improbable, 

 also, that in a state of nature, it partly subsists on insects. 

 The call is " J&p, kip!" and it sings constantly, though 

 scarcely more pleasantly than the Mountain Finch, to which 

 bird it bears, in many respects, a strong resemblance. "When 

 kept by the amateur, it is, therefore, chiefly on account of its 

 rarity. 



117. THE CANAKY. 

 Fringilla Canaria, LIN. Serin de Canarie, BUF. Der Canarien Vogel, BECH. 



Description. The original home of this bird, now so well 

 known in every country in Europe, even as far north as 

 Eussia and Siberia, and everywhere prized for the beauty 

 of its plumage, its engaging disposition, its admirable song, 

 and its extraordinary docility, is the Canary Islands, where 

 it breeds on the banks of rivulets. It is said to have been intro- 

 duced into Europe in the beginning of the sixteenth century, 

 by a ship bound for Leghorn, which foundered near the island 

 of Elba. The birds set at liberty by this accident found the 

 climate so propitious as to breed, and would probably have 

 become at last quite acclimatized, had they not been so dili- 

 gently sought after by the bird-catchers, that not a single 

 individual is now to be found in the island. It was there- 

 fore from Italy that Canaries were introduced into the rest 



