Canaris

“ In the illustration given can be traced a similarity of method in the opening notes to that of the nightingale. A canary can, however, be taught to imitate the notes of almost any bird, or to pipe, like a trained bullfinch, a bar or two of a popular air, and even to speak a few words, though this is very rare in a wild state. The colour of a canary, like its song, is quite different from that which it acquires in captivity, being a kind of dappled olive-green; but the bird-fanciers, by careful selection, are able to produce canaries of almost every tint between black, green, and yellow. ”

“ But it was healthy and vigorous, and so pugnacious that on our return, after the day's absence, it would fly at us, or try to, poor thing, and peck our outstretched fingers, even while taking offered hemp seed greedily. The bird watched and waited for our coming and we became so much attached to it that its death was a real loss.
The little birds can fill our hearts
As full as larger creatures' arts.
The nest of the canary is a pretty, neatly formed structure of any soft material it can find. ”

“ The canary and siskin hybrid is always a very dark bird and usually small in size. Depending on the depth of color they are usually called a copper, bronze, or mahogany. When these hybrids are mated back to pure canary stock, the chicks obtained are called second cross and generally have a much more attractive appearance. ”

“ A canary is easily tamed. Take a tiny pinch of French’s Song Food and moisten it in your lips. Raise your hand slowly and spread the moistened food on the cage bars near an upper perch. Out of curiosity, the canary will hop over to see what you have placed on the bar, pick at it, and enjoy eating it. Do this once or twice a day, and in a short time you will find he is accustomed to your presence and will pick the food from your fingers. Birds like to feed from the lips. After a bird has taken a treat from your finger, place a bit between your lips. ”

“ A small bell suspended in the cage will sometimes attract and hold the interest of the bird when nothing else will. Canaries like attention and excitement. Talk to them frequently. They are usually fond of music too, and will often try to drown it with their own notes.
Allowing the canary to have the freedom of the room provides it both pleasure and exercise. The dangers are that the bird may injure itself or that it will pick up something not good for it to eat. If you decide in favor, prop or tie the cage door open and let the bird return to the cage by itself. ”

“ By the silent language with which animals communicate their ideas to each other, she had been able to make the canary understand that she would not hurt it.
After this, the two were allowed to be constantly together, to their mutual satisfaction. One morning, however, as they were in the bed-room of their mistress, what was her dismay to see the trustworthy cat, as she had supposed her, after uttering a feline growl, seize the canary in her mouth, and leap with her into the bed. There she stood, her tail stiffened out, her hair bristling, and her eyes glaring fiercely. ”

“ Too ill to be worried about anything! And this beetle browed young doctor scared her with his intent gaze; there was no admiration or homage in it, only a scarcely veiled disapproval. She felt like a poor little canary with a great Tom-cat peering at her, scorning her as too insignificant even for a mouth-full. And how was it her fault that she was so useless? Was it the canary’s fault that he had been born in a cage and some one took [20] care of him and he had never had to do like other birds and grub for his living? ”

“ During the years of its domestication, the canary has been the subject of careful artificial selection, the result being the production of a bird differing widely in the colour of its plumage, and in a few of its varieties even in size and form, from the original wild species. The prevailing colour of the most admired varieties of the canary is yellow, approaching in some cases to orange, and in others to white; while the most robust birds are those which, in the dusky green of the upper surface of their plumage, show a distinct approach to the wild forms. ”

“ First of all, there was my lovely mother Dixie, an American canary, with dainty whirls of feathers on her wings, my golden colored father Norfolk, my father’s sister Silkie, her roller canary mate Silver-Throat, who was a tiny, mottled bird, with an exquisite voice, and about twenty other canaries of different breeds, some Australian parakeets, African love-birds, nonpareils, and indigoes, and in the nest beside me my little sister Cayenna and my brother Green-Top, so called from his green crest. I am a plainhead. ”

“ The male canary is ordinarily a model husband and parent, giving no trouble, but if he should annoy the female during incubation or attempt to injure the young he should be removed at once. It is the natural instinct of an incubating bird to conceal itself as much as possible, and though canaries are tame, this tendency should be recognized and respected. This does not mean that they are to be neglected. Each breeding cage should be equipped with a sand tray which should be cleaned at least every other day. In no other way can it be hoped to rear numbers of birds successfully. ”

“ When a canary has never sung, there is always the possibility that it is a normal hen and will never do so. Hen canaries have been known to inherit rather strong male characteristics and to sing frequently but usually without the vigor and fullness characteristic of normal males.
When a canary is apparently in good health and all other stimuli have failed to secure the return of song, 69 try placing a good singing canary in an adjoining room where it can be heard but not seen by the silent bird. ”

“ This seemed to me to show some sense of humor, and I afterward noticed other birds indulging in tail-pulling. Canaries are particularly fond of it, and I often have seen a mischievous canary sneaking up to another who is sitting on a branch, his little throat distended, his head back. He is singing the most eloquent song he knows. Perhaps he is showing off before some pretty stranger whose good graces he wishes to gain, when, lo, he is thrown into a most pitiable state of confusion and contortion, for canary number one has seized his tail and has given it a good tweak. ”

“ Of the home birds the gold-hued Canary comes first, as the chief favorite among them all. From its native home on the Canary Islands it has been taken to Europe and America and kept so long in cages that it has quite forgotten its old-time liberty, so that a canary-bird escaped from its cage is the most helpless creature in the feathered flock, and is likely to become the prey of the cat if not captured and brought back to its cage-home. ”

“ One species is found all along our coast, from New England to Florida. It has no other common name.
Gordon C.—Your theory that the peeking and the scolding noise made by a canary are simply to show its affection for its friends, and really a sign of pleasure, is very pretty, but we are not sure it is right. It is true that a canary will not often act in that way when approached by a stranger, for a new voice frightens it, and makes it shrink into a corner of its cage, but it will show a great deal of fight, and peck vigorously, when disturbed by a familiar finger. ”

“ Readily adaptable to cage life, canaries display little of the fear shown by wild birds in captivity, and the ease with which they may be induced to nest and rear young adds to their popularity.
Canaries have been domesticated for several hundred years and, though more common in western Europe and the United States than elsewhere, have been carried over practically the entire civilized world. In England and Germany there are hundreds of canary breeders and many avicultural societies. ”

“ I have, perhaps, dwelt somewhat at length on this portion of the subject, but it is the most curious portion of all, for the canary is the only one of all our singing-birds which is solely a household thing. Linnets, finches, larks, nightingales, thrushes, and blackbirds, are all free denizens of the open air, as well as prisoners in our rooms, but the canary with us is unknown in a wild state. ”

“ It is from the others, however, that the best birds are usually obtained. The canary is very prolific, producing eggs, not exceeding six in number, three or four times a year; and in a state of nature it is said to breed still oftener. The work of building the nest, and of incubation, falls chiefly on the female, while the duty of feeding the young rests mainly with the cock bird. The natural song of the canary is loud and clear ”

“ It is an outstandingly large, erect bird—a veritable giant compared to the average roller or chopper canary. The difficulties faced by breeders of this type are many since the effort to produce increasingly large birds has led to considerable deterioration in other desirable characteristics, such as feathering. ”

“ The canary breeder usually specializes in type, color, or song. It is not unusual for a breeder to produce a hundred canaries for every worthwhile bird retained for further breeding. The remaining birds are mostly sold to pet stores. Hence, in the chopper classification there appear all colors, shapes, and sizes, and this green bird obviously has inherited much Border Fancy Blood. ”

“ The cat, though she has little sympathy with our vapid sentiment, can be taught that a canary is a privileged nuisance, immune from molestation. The bird's shrill notes jar her sensitive nerves. She abhors noise, and a canary's pipe is the most piercing and persistent of noises, welcome to that large majority of mankind which prefers sound of any kind to silence. Moreover, a cage presents just the degree of hindrance to tempt a cat's agility. ”

“ Your pet’s good health depends on good treatment, good housing, and good food. The canary needs fresh water, nutritious food, and proper amounts of minerals and vitamins. Like other members of the hard-billed finch family, the canary’s main food requirement is seeds, as its sturdy seed-cracking bill indicates. In nature he finds supplies of calcium and other minerals for bone, feather, and egg production, in addition to seeds and greens. Although he is not primarily an insect eater, the canary relishes insects and their larvae, as do other members of the finch family. ”

“ How we grew! Soon I was able to look in the mirror opposite our nest, and I could see the change in us from day to day. Canaries grow up very quickly, and when we were a fortnight old, we had nice feathers and were beginning to feed ourselves. ”

“ But I would never advise any one to make a cage pet of a bird who has been born wild and once known liberty. No matter if he lives and thrives: he will sometimes remember the days when he was free, and be very sad." "My Canary is never sad," said Nat: "he is always singing."
"For very many years Canaries have been bred in cages, to be pets, and as these have never been wild they are used to cage life. They are the best birds for pets, because they are seed-eaters, and it is easy to supply the food they like. ”

“ As a canary grows old it will be noticed that its claws become long and catch on the perches and wires as it hops about the cage. In a state of nature the activities of the bird as it moves about on the ground or among twigs and limbs keep the claws properly worn down. Confined in a cage the canary is less active, and while the claws have the same rate of growth they are here subject to much less abrasion. ”

“ They were very interesting little fledglings—three male birds, and three hen-birds, and strange to say my naughty brother Green-Top was as kind to them as he had been unkind to me.
It is no easy matter to feed six hearty young canaries, and it was the prettiest sight in the world to see him fly to the dish of egg food, stuff his beak and hurry to the nestlings with it. He was a great help to my parents. He was the only young canary in the bird-room that helped his parents feed new babies, and the old birds gave him great credit for it. ”

“ In Italy, therefore, we find the first tame canaries, and here they are still reared in great numbers. Their natural colour is grey, which merges into green beneath, almost resembling the colours of the linnet; but by means of domestication, climate, and being bred with other birds, canaries may now be met with of a great variety of colours. But perhaps there is none more beautiful than the golden-yellow, with blackish-grey head and tail. The hen canary lays her eggs four or five times a year, and thus a great number of young are produced. ”

“ The wild canary is not noted for its beauty and not greatly for its song. It is found in large num [219] bers in the Canary, Madeira, and Cape Verde Islands, and is of a greenish-yellow color, with gray tail and wings. It is the art of man which has made the home bird what it is and has given it its color and its fine vocal powers. When the Canary Islands were occupied by the Spaniard in 1478 these birds were taken in large numbers to Spain, from which they spread over Europe, becoming the pets of many a cottage and castle home. ”

“ DOG AND CANARY. [Nov. 20, 1880.]
I was much interested in the account of the friendship that existed between the young retriever and the donkey whom he released by gnawing the rope. The little incident I send of another retriever may also interest your readers. A friend of mine had a pet canary, while her brother was the owner of a retriever that was also much petted. One day the canary escaped from the house, and was seen flying about the grounds for a few days, and when it perched was generally on high elm-trees. ”