^^^DEPARTMENT 

 OF AGRICULTURE 



TTITK UlICLS SiM'S KATUEALISTS. 



PF.T,F.A.Si: rridav. July 17. 1931 , 



NOT FOR PUBLICATION 



Speaking Time: 10 Minutes 



ANlIOUNCEIvfflNT ; And now for our visit with Uncle Sam's Naturalists of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture^ Canary' "birds, cottontail 

 rahbits, prairie dogs, and nuddy streams are among the subjects our 

 Wildsman will hrlofly touch on today Well, Mr. Wildsman? — 



iii>tc ]|i m iit »i )(c m )tc « »i 41 



Canaries have "been I:ept for pets for four or five hundred years. 

 In fact, nohody seems to laiowfor certain just where they did come from, 

 they are supposed to have originated from the "wild canary" of the Canary- 

 Islands or one of the "birds that is close kin to the v/ild cemary. 



But whatever wild "bird became the first captive canary, the natural- 

 ists seem to "be fairly well agreed that the original canary was a very 

 different looking brid from its modem purebred descendant which trills 

 apparently so contentedly in its gilded ca.gc. 



Anyway, the "wild canary" and the serin finch, v/Mch have boon 

 suggested as the probable ancestors of our household canaries arc both 

 more or less gray, tinged v.lth olive green \vith dark streaks 011 the 

 feathers. Qiir comi:ion canaries have been considerably changed in color. 



I mention this change, because I noticed a feather in our canvxj 

 cage, and I suspect our canary bird is 0.0 out to change his coa.t. The 

 latter part of July is a little early. Canaries usually start to molt 

 during August and on the average the molt reaches the height in September. 

 The ontire gradual change of feathers talces about two months. 



During the molt is tho time to color feed canaxies go as to deepen 



or intensify their color. Turmeric, marigold, flowers, saffron, cochineal, 



ani-jitto, mustard seed, and other feeds rich in natural color arc often 

 used to produce interesting color changes. 



For a long timo, methods of preparing and feeding color foods to 

 canaries were kept secret, but now they are outlined in mrny manuals on 

 canary fccdizig, including Farmers* Bulletin lie. 1327 on "Canaries, Tiicir 

 Care and ManaGor:cnt." Our prosent— day canaries are the ros"i^lt of careful 

 scloction. '■nd brocdir.f^, biit their color can bo modified to a ccrt:-',in c^ctccit 



