172 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CANARIES. 



So widely known has the sweet-singing canary become that should 

 an inhabitant of one of the civilized countries of the world visit the 

 Canary Islands and hear the wild birds in their native home the strains 

 would, in all probability, bring to the traveler memories of his own 

 home. The clear and varied notes of this favorite singer are familiar 

 to young and old, and many dwellings, from the great mansion to the 

 obscure cottage, are alike brightened by their beauty. The position 

 of the canary among cage-birds is unique — not only because of its 

 widespread popularity, but also from the fact that centuries of domes- 

 tication have rendered it peculiarly dependent on man. Its cage has 

 become its natural home and to it liberty would probably mean death. 



The bird is a native of the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Funchal 

 (Madeira), and is said to have been brought from the Canaries to Spain 

 and kept as a cage-bird by the Spanish nobility shortly before the time 

 of the discovery of America. Other accounts make Italy the first 

 country into which it was introduced and place the time early in the 

 sixteenth century. It is sufiicient for present purposes to note that 

 it has been domesticated and prized as a cage-bird for the past four 

 centuries. The wild bird is smaller than the bird now so familiar, and 

 is also differently colored, having less bright yellow and considerable 

 olive and brownish in its coloring. Nor does it sing as sweetly. 

 Nevertheless, it is so attractive that soon after its introduction it 

 became a general favorite, and was bred so assiduously that it is said 

 that by the beginning of the eighteenth century 27 different varieties 

 were produced. It is interesting to note that canaries are now 

 exported from England to the Canary Islands. 



The canary is a very good imitator. Mature birds have been known 

 to reproduce very closely the songs of even such birds as chewinks, 

 house wrens, and others, and the faculty has been utilized by breeders 

 to determine to a certain extent the quality or character of the song of 

 a young bird. In Germany young canaries have been associated with 

 nightingales and in England with woodlarks to this end. But the 

 method comrnonly employed at present is to place the young bird with 

 a canary that possesses a superior song and is kept solely for training 

 purposes. The fine singers used for this purpose are called "cam- 

 paninis " and command high prices. Singers are measured bj' the rich- 

 ness and sweetness, not the strength, of their tones. Thus the voice 

 of one of the choice St. Andreasburg " rollers" (which sell at whole- 

 sale for $24 to $36 a dozen, according to season, while ordinary canaries 

 range from $15 to |21 a dozen) could easily be drowned by the sing- 

 ing of many an inferior canar}'. A single bird with a superior voice, 

 especially a campanini, will sometimes command a price for which 

 several dozen ordinary singers can be bought. Ordinary female birds, 



