PASSERINE BIRDS. 



IO9 



Canary belongs to the same species as the two above-mentioned birds, and has only changed in 

 colour from difference of climate. Humboldt was the first who could speak with any authority as 

 having seen the Canary in its wild state, having become acquainted with it in 1799, during his 

 residence in Teneriffe." More modern ornithologists have been far from giving this bird the praise 

 it deserves, and we have to thank Bolle alone for so beautiful and exhaustive a description of its life 

 and habits, that nothing more remains to be desired. The following account is drawn from his work. 

 The writer we quote found this species occupying the seven wooded islands called the Canaries, 

 and even some parts of Madeira, the latter fact leading him to suppose that this bird may have lived 

 upon all these islands before their trees were cut down. It is principally to be met with in such 



THE WILD CANARY. 



places as are covered with wood or shrubs, and are situated near springs of water in the interior, 

 which in summer form brooks, margined during the entire year by a border of delicate plants ; it is 

 also found in the gardens and houses of the inhabitants, and is quite as numerous in crowded towns 

 as in the quietest nooks — indeed, it is seen in all parts, even at an altitude of 5,000 or 6,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea, except in the thick damp forests formed by laurel and holly trees, beyond the 

 borders of which Bolle never observed it to settle. It may be also frequently met with in the vineyards, 

 or in fir plantations that cover rocky declivities. It is at present uncertain whether this bird occupies 

 the high ground during the winter, but it has been found at an altitude of 4,000 feet late in the 

 autumn. The wild Canary, which, even in its native woods, is called " Canario " both by the 

 Spaniards and Portuguese, is considerably smaller, and usually more slender than these we see 



