THE CANARY-BIRD. 403 



not, I suspect, a general truth. There is, surely, probability 

 that the Canary has a song of its own. 



1 am, however, indebted to Mr. Yarrel for the following 

 particulars of the domesticated Canary-Bird, of which he has 

 several eggs, produced by the genuine species, without any ad- 

 mixture. 



* "Whatever the materials are of which the Canary forms its 

 nest, or what the colour of its eggs in its native islands, I do 

 not know ; but, in this country (having bred them myself), they 

 make a compact nest of moss and wool closely interwoven, very 

 similar to the nest of the Linnet and the Redpole ; the egg is also 

 very like that of the Linnet, but somewhat smaller, the ground 

 colour white, slightly tinged with green, spotted and streaked 

 with dark red at the larger end ; in number four or five. 



*' However domestication may change the feather, I have no 

 reason to believe that it produces any alteration in the colour 

 of the egg; and, in this instance, both the nest and eggs agree 

 closely with the other species of the genus to which the Canary 

 belongs. 



-" Domestication, though continued for years, produces no 

 change in the eggs of pheasants, &c. &c." 



The Canary has been known to breed in confinement in this 

 country six or eight times a year ! 



While the Man akin murmur'd a tremulous song, 

 The Mocking-bird followed with music along. 



