470 CANARY BIRD. Class II. 



who wrote in 1555, is silent in respect to these 

 birds : Gesner* is the first who mentions them ; 

 and A ldrovand-\ speaks of them as rarities; he 

 says that they were very dear on account of the 

 .difficulty attending the bringing them from so 

 distant a country, and that they were purchased 

 by people of rank alone. Olina% says, that in 

 his time there was a degenerate sort found on 

 the isle of Elba, off the coast of Italy, which 

 came there originally by means of a ship bound 

 from the Canaries to Leghorn, which was 

 wrecked on that island. We once saw some 

 small birds brought directly from the Canary 

 Islands, that we suspect to be the genuine sort ; 

 they were of a dull green color, but as they did 

 not sing, we supposed them to be hens. These 

 birds will produce with the goldfinch and linnet, 

 and the offspring is called a mule- bird, because, 

 like that animal, it proves barren. 



They are still found§ on the same spot to 

 which we were first indebted for the production 

 of such charming songsters ; but they are now 

 become so numerous in our country, that we 

 are under no necessity of crossing the ocean 

 for them. 



* Gesner av. 240. f Aldr. av. ii. 355. 



X Olina uccel. 7. § Glass hist. Canary Isles, 1QQ. 



