CANARY. 79 



FRINGILLA CANAUIA. 

 CANARY. 



(Plate 13.)* 



Passer serinus canaiius, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 184 (1760). 



FringiUa oanaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 821 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



Gmelin, Latham, (Bonaparte), {Godmari), (Dresser), &c. 

 Carduelis canaria (Linn.), Less. lYaitS d'Orn. p. 443 (1831). 

 Crithagra canaria (Linn.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 294 (1837). 

 Serinus canarius (lAnn.), Cab. Mm. Hein. i. p. 163 (1850). 

 Dryospiza canaria (Linn.), Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 83 (1870). 



The first alleged occurrence of the Canary in our islands in a wild state 

 rests on the authority of Mr. Swaysland, who states that at least fifty years 

 ago he caught one in his father's net early one morning in April near 

 Brighton. It was a hird of remarkably rapid flighty and when it was caught 

 it turned sharp and flew into the net with the rapidity of a Hawk. He 

 further states that the actions of the bird, when it was transferred to a 

 cagCj were extremely wild. 



There can be little doubt that the Canary is an accidental visitor to the 

 British Islands. Birds indistinguishable from the wild Canary of the Azores, 

 and having no appearance of ever having been in confinement, are occa- 

 sionally caught by the bird-catchers in the neighbourhood of London. 

 Mr. Bond has an example thus obtained in his collection ; and Mr. Bartlett 

 informs me that at least four examples have passed through his hands. 

 Other specimens have been obtained near Brighton. The number 

 of birds passing along the coast in autumn on migration is almost 

 fabulous ; they are caught with clap-nets. A bird-catcher told me that he 

 once caught three thousand Greenfinches in a fortnight near Brighton, 

 and that he was sure that he did not catch more than one in a hundred of 

 the birds that flew over. In October, on the cliffs between Brighton and 

 Shoreham, and between Brighton and Newhaven, a hundred pairs of nets 

 are set every morning ; and it is not an uncommon thing for one man to 

 catch a hundred, and on special occasions, with a north-east wind, five or 

 six hundred Greenfinches and Linnets in a morning. Amongst the 

 thousands of common birds which are caught in this way, an occasional 

 rare bird occurs, and is offered to Mr. Swaysland for sale. Every two or 

 three years a wild Canary is brought to his shop; and examples thus 

 obtained are in the collections of Mr. Monk, Lord Clifton, Major Spicer 



* The small egg of the Greenfinch figured on this Plate is an exact duplicate of an egg 

 of the Canary. 



