Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-25
HOST OF CANARIES
ARE BROUGHT HERE
Average For the Last Ten Years More Than 100000 year They
Are Selected For Their Singing Abilities and Not
For Their Coos
New York Times.

New York Times.
AS household pet the canary
reigns supreme among birds. This is
because IL is one Of the most success
full songsters i'm the feathered king
dom. II has other attractions: It has
a pleasing personality. II is easily
adaptable 10 cage life and becomes
tame I'm captivity.
"Canaries have been domestieated."
SAYS Alexander Wetmore in bulle-
tin of the biological Survey. 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 More than
three and one-auarter millions of
canarics have been brought into the
United States during the last ten
years. an average of more than 300,-
600 birds each year. Most OF these
have come from Germany. but some
are imported from England.
The actual origin of the canary as
a cage bird is as obscure as is the
early history of other domesticated
animals. It seems probable that cap
tive canaries were first secured from
the Canary Islands. a group with
which they have long been popularity
associated. There are in the Old
World. however. two closely allied
forms from which the domesticated
canary may have come. One of these.
the bird now recognized as the wild
canary is found in the Canary Islands.
The other form, the serin finch, ranges
through Southern Europe and North
ern Africa, extending eastward into
Palestine and Asia Minor. In wild
state these two forms are very similar
in color and to a novice are hardly
distinguishable.
IF. as is supposed. the original form
of canaries came from the Canary Is
lands. it may be considered doubtful
that the stock thus secured has fur-
nished the ancestors of all our ca
naries. The slight differences in color
betwean the serin finch and the ca
nary would probably have passed nn-
noticed by early ornithologists ana
bird lovers. With bird catching, a
widespread practice in Middle and
southern Europe, the serln would
often be made captive and be ac-
4
In this way serins and wild canaries
may have interbred until all dls-
tinguishable differences were lost.
"The original canary. whether serin
or true wild canary. in its nauve haunt
was much different in color from It's
| roodern pure-bred descendent. The
hack of the wild bird is. in general.
gray tinged with olive green, especial
| ly on the rump, with dark smart
streaks on the feathers. Underneath
| il is yellowish, streaked on fianks with
dusky. Wild canaries from the Ca
nary Islands, the Azores ana MADEIRA
differ from the Continental serins
| in being slightly grayer with less OF
yellowish green in the plumage above.
In addition. the rump is duller yellow
and the bin is distinctly larger. All
! of the wild birds have the feet and
legs ftarsi) horn brown, the upper
half of the bill dark brown or norm
color and the lower half paler.
both of the wild varieties inhabit
vineyards, thicSets, and more open
country where bordered by trees. At
times during Fall and Winter great
| ftocks are found together. The BIRDS
| feed upon various seeds and occa-
sionally eat figs or other small fruits
| in season. In a wild state they nest
early i'm Spring and again later, rear
ing two broods. The nest, made OF
n,ant stems and grasses and lined with
hair and plant downs, IS placed. IN
bushes or low trees. The eggs are
clear green in color. spotted and cloud
ed with deep wine red and reddish
brown. From three to FIVE eggs are
deposited.
nyariation among domesticated ca
/ naries began early, as Hernandez, in
/ 1887. speaks of the canary rs wholly
I yellow in color save fer the tips of the
I wings. The various forms have had
j their origin in distinct geographic
areas. and though some are almost ex-
ltinct at present, all at one time or