8 



CANARY BIRDS. 



with accuracy : the change having been effected so gradually 

 that no exact period can be fixed upon. 



I shall give the scientific description of the wild canary 

 according to the birds which I myself have, in the course of 

 years, had in my possession, and which are to be found 

 in my collection. 



The Wild Canary, called " Canario " by the Spaniards 

 and Portuguese, and Canario de Terra by Madeira people, 

 resembles, according to Hartwig, in size, shape, and bearing, 

 the cultivated bird of the ordinary breed of Germany and 

 of the " Hartz ; " as to the colouring, it tallies to a great 

 degree with that of the greyish-green canary with a greenish- 

 yellow breast, and without white wings and tail-feathers, so 

 that it requires an accurate and thorough acquaintance with 

 both these birds to enable one to discover any reliable marks 

 of distinction between the two. This distinction mainly 

 consists in the fact that, in the wild bird, the whole design 

 of the upper and under part is quite regular (symmetrical), 

 and the head and back present a more greenish-grey, instead 

 of a brownish tone of colouring ; further, that the ashy tint 

 or the bluish colour is more strongly accentuated at the 

 sides of the neck or throat, that the white wing and tail- 

 feathers are absolutely wanting, and that the upper part of 

 the beak and the legs are flesh-coloured (not the dark-brown 

 colour of a horn). 



Scientific Description.— A frontal streak above and 

 beneath the eye, the sides of the head, and a streak at the 

 neck, of a vivid greenish-yellow, the " vertex " of a greyish- 

 green yellow, on the upper and back part of the head, each 

 feather showing a broad, blackish shaft-streak, a second 

 streak at the neck and the cheeks, are of a bluish ashy 

 colour ; the shoulders and the upper part of the back are 

 olive-green with a brownish shade, each feather having in 

 the middle a broad, blackish streak, the nether part of the 



