CANARIES AND OTHER CAGE-BIRD FRIENDS 



791 



Every home that I entered in the city had 

 little aviaries standing in the patio, or small 

 cages with birds hung in a window. And 

 I was continually attracted by strange bird 

 notes, to find that they came from a captive 

 of some species rare in zoological gardens in 

 the north, or one that I had not seen in 

 life before. 



From such sources in foreign countries 

 dealers obtain the birds that become estab- 

 lished in our homes and zoos. 



Serin Fincli 



The wild serin finch (Serinus canaria seri- 

 niis), found from the Atlas Mountains in 

 Africa north in southern Europe through Spain 

 to Greece and Palestine, is a close relative of 

 the wild canary, but is slightly smaller and 

 somewhat darker, with heavy blackish streak- 

 ings on back and sides (Color Plate I). It is 

 kept commonly in aviaries, breeds in captivity, 

 and frequently crosses with the European gold- 

 finch, the canary, and other small finches. 



Because of the widespread range of the serin 

 in the regions where canary culture was first 

 developed, it has been supposed to have fur- 

 nished part of the parent stock of the domesti- 

 cated canary, but it appears now that this 

 indefinite belief is unfounded. The closely 

 related form of the Canary Islands and near-by 

 areas is considered to be the one that alone 

 has produced our domestic bird. 



Canary 



The canary, found today in every country on 

 the globe, occupies a remarkable place, since 

 among our common domestic birds it alone is 

 kept and reared solely for the pleasure and 

 companionship that it brings into our homes. 

 As it does not produce flesh, feathers, or other 

 product of commercial value, its contribution 

 to our well-being comes entirely in the form 

 of pleasing songs and interesting mannerisms. 

 It joins cultivated flowers in making attractive 

 the background for our lives. 



In a wild state the canary (Serinus canaria 

 canaria) is native to three groups of islands in 

 the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean — the 

 Canary Islands (from which it takes its name), 

 Madeira, and the Azores. In the Canary group 

 it is found on all of the islands except Fuerte- 

 ventura and Lanzarote, and is one of the most 

 common wild birds from sea level to the 

 highest ridges. 



The true wild canary is grayish above, 

 streaked rather heavily with blackish, and 

 marked with yellow on the rump and crown. 

 The breast is dull yellow and the sides grayish, 

 indistinctly streaked. This is the stock from 

 which all our domestic canaries have come. 



In many parts of the world there are other 

 kinds of small yellowish birds known as "wild 

 canaries," but they have nothing to do with 



our domesticated bird. In the United States 

 the name is given to such different species as 

 the goldfinch (Spinus tristis ) and the >'ellow 

 warbler ( Dendroica aestiva), representatives 

 of two distinct families. In Latin America the 

 term "canario" is applied to many kinds of 

 small tanagers, warblers, and sparrows. 



How the canary came into captivitv is not 

 recorded at this late day. Seemingly this must 

 have been because of pleasing song, since the 

 coloration of the wild canary is nothing re- 

 markable. Sailors brought captive canaries 

 home from voyages, demand arose for them, 

 and from the end of the ISth into the 16th 

 century Spaniards imported the wild-taken 

 birds into Europe in numbers, selling them 

 for good prices. 



Even at this early time it was found that 

 canaries could be reared in captivity. And at 

 the beginning of the 16th century the area 

 where they were extensively produced spread 

 from northern Italy north to center around 

 Innsbruck, Niirnberg, and Augsburg. 



Turner in 1544 is the earliest writer known to 

 me to mention the canary. Conrad Gesner, 

 in the third book of his Histuria Animalium, 

 pubhshed in 1555, said that he had not seen 

 one, but gave an account of the species from 

 information furnished him by a friend in Augs- 

 burg. Canaries remained rare for a consider- 

 able period, and commanded such prices that 

 for a long time they were kept only by the 

 wealthy. 



Accustomed as we are to the canary in cap- 

 tivity, it seems strange to consider them as 

 living wholly at freedom. In their island homes 

 they range commonly in gardens and orchards, 

 and are also found in flocks in sterile, stony 

 country where they may be tame and confid- 

 ing, or wild and difficult to approach. 



The nests are cups of grasses and weed stems 

 lined with softer materials, placed in bushes or 

 on low branches of trees. The three to five 

 eggs are light green, spotted with reddish 

 brown. The song is as attractive as in captive 

 birds, though not so prolonged in utterance, 

 nor is it given for so much of the year. 



Under domestication, variation among ca- 

 naries began at an early date. Dr. E. Strese- 

 mann has pointed out figures of canaries with 

 white wings and much yellow on the body in 

 paintings by Lazarus Roting of Niirnberg, who 

 died in 1614, so that the change from the origi- 

 nal color to the yeUow phase apparently was 

 under way at the close of the 16th century. 



The yellow and the green types of canary, 

 with every possible intergradation between, re- 

 main the common forms to the present. While 

 the green canary is an approach to the parent 

 stock, native birds from the Canary Islands 

 are grayer on the hack than most of those 

 found in captivity. 



The ordinary household canary, kept by those 

 who merely love birds, is of moderate size, with 

 the colors as indicated above. It will be of in- 



