CANARIES 207 



between these two species, but there is no evidence to sup- 

 port the claim. 



The Wild Canary is still abundant in its habitat, the 

 Canaries, the Azores and Madeira, isolated islands in the 

 eastern Atlantic. They are caught and kept as cage birds 

 by the inhabitants, but seldom reach the outside market. 



Some time during the sixteenth century,* Wild Canaries 

 appear to have been taken to Europe with cargoes of sugar, 

 the sweetness of their song and their foreign derivation 

 bringing them great popularity. It is probable that serious 

 breeding did not commence for some time, but that it did 

 finally take place we have the best possible proof. It must 

 have been many years before any great change in song was 

 noticeable; it is probable that color varieties were more 

 easily obtained. As suggested by Dr. A. R. Galloway,t 

 cinnamon mutants, or " sports," which are of frequent oc- 

 currence among most European finches in the wild state, no 

 doubt appeared among the caged canaries. Inbreeding 

 would quickly establish the new color, and once firmly fixed, 

 this might readily lead to the occurrence of yellow. 



Song, however, was the main attraction for the Ger- 

 mans, who seem to have been the first breeders of canaries, 

 and it was not until the birds reached England that the 

 great possibilities of variation in form and color were made 

 the most of. To this day, English birds excel in these char- 

 acters, while the German birds are unrivaled singers. 



Every one knows that the canary is almost ubiquitous in 

 America, but its derivation is not a matter of common 

 :nowledge. Practically all of the birds offered for sale in 

 the bird stores throughout the country are reared by the 

 peasants of Germany. The great majority come from the 

 Hartz Mountains, where canary breeding is a leading indus- 



* Willoughby's Ornithology, 1676. 



t Canaries, Hybrids and British Birds, p. 20. 



