CANARY BIRDS. 
221 
former companion, but by four full-grown young ones, when 
she entered the cage and fed as usual. But as she could not 
persuade her brood to follow her example, she finally went 
off, and from that time was never seen again. 
Small birds seldom live above eight or ten years, but 
Goldfinches have been known to live sixteen or eighteen 
years. We have the authority of a very eminent naturalist, 
for one having attained to the age of twenty-three years 
at last it grew so infirm, that the people to whom it belonged 
were obliged to scrape its beak and claws, that it might eat, 
drink, and sit upon its perch. It had subsisted on poppy- 
seeds chiefly, and had lost its power of flying, and all its 
feathers had become white, which is contrary to what has 
been usually observed in aged small birds, whose plumage at 
times assumes a darker shade, particularly if fed much upon 
hemp- seed. Thus there are instances of Goldfinches, Bull- 
finches, and Larks becoming almost entirely black. 
So nearly allied are Canaries to Goldfinches, that they 
will breed together, and the produce is a very pretty bird 
(called a Mule), with a strong clear voice, which, in addition 
to its scarcity, causes it to be much valued, and commands a 
high price. And yet, nearly connected as they are, the 
Canary is entirely of foreign origin, being a native of the 
Canaries (from whence they took their name), a cluster of 
islands in the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Africa. They 
are very indifferent flyers, which may account for their never 
having migrated like other birds, and being thus occasionally 
found in their wild state in other countries. They accord- 
ingly for a long time remained unknown in Europe ; indeed 
it was not till the enterprising reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
about three hundred years ago, when so many of our now 
common fruits and vegetables, such as nectarines, potatos, 
&c., and even poultry, such as Turkeys, &c., first found their 
way into England, that Canaries were introduced ; and they 
were then for a time so prized and scarce, that none but the 
most wealthy could purchase them. But the desire of hav- 
ing them seems rapidly to have spread, for not long after, the 
* Gesner. 
