*94 F I N C H.
'F LACE.
tificial management, in the fame manner as our common
poultry *.
They inhabit, in a wild Hate, the Canary Ifiands chiefly, as
well as fome others; as Palma, Cape Verd f , Fayal J, Madeira j|;
and are faid to frequent watery places.
Our plan will not allow the taking notice, even in brief, of
the various methods of rearing thefe birds. This can be flhewn
only in authors whofe writings are more diffufe; as thofe of
Buffon, who allows above fifty pages on this bird alone; all of
which may be read with pleafure and inftru&ion. Willughby has
treated lightly on the fame fubject; as has Albin, in his Hifiory of
Singing Birds; and others. We will therefore wave the matter,
further than to obferve, that this bird breeds freely with our t\yo
next fpecies, both feemingly congenerous birds ; the firft found
in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Auftria, and Provence; the other met
with in the laft-named place, Dauphiny, Lyons, Bugey, Geneva,
Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
The Canary-bird will alfo prove fertile with the Sijkin and
Goldfinch; but in this cafe the produce, for the mod part, proves
Jlerile: the pairs fucceed beft when the hen-bird- is the Ca-
* Twenty-nine varieties are mentioned by name in '.he Hi f t . des e l f p. io ;
and, from what I can learn, many more are reckoned by fanciers in thefe birds.
+ Hi f t . des oift. vol. v. 4. p. 35. 45.— If this bird be the Serious of Kolben, it is
alfo found at the Cape oft Good Hope. This is faid to be of a yellowilh green,
mixed with grey on the back, and to fing like a Canary-bird.— Kolb. Cape,
vol. ii. p. 156.----- I have feen the yellow fort, mixed with both brownifli grey
andgreenilh, in Chimftc drawings, frequently; but whether caged birds or not
could nqt be certain.
i Forft. Voy. ii. p. 550. || Far f t . Obft. p. 26,
9 nary,
F I N C H;
1
nary, and the cock of the oppofite fpecies *. It will alfo prove
prolific with the Linnet, Tellow-hammer, Chaffinch, and even the
Houfe Sparrow - f b u t the male Canary-bird will not affimilate
with the female of thefe birds; the hen mull be ever of the
Canary fpecies, and the young of thefe moftly prove mule birds.
As to the fong, fo highly prized by many, it is alfo needlefs
here to dwell upon. Whoever may wifh to read what is faid on
the fubjeft of this or other finging birds, need only confulc a
well-written treatife by our friend the Hon. Daines Barrington%,
on this fubjeft.
This bird is faid by fome to live ten or fifteen years || ; by
others, as far as eighteen §. One of them, now alive, has already
been in the poffeflion of a friend of mine thirteen years.
# When a male Canary-bird is matched to the hen Goldfinch, or Sijkin, it is
jiot without certain precautions, and great attention, that a brood will follow.
On the contrary, when the male of either of the two lafl-mentioned birds is
,jnade ufe of, the fuccefs is almoft certain.
•f A female Canary-bird of the grey kind, which efcaped from a cage, has
been known to pair with a Honfe Sparrow, and to bring a brobd iria bird-pot
placed againft an houfe. Hifi. des oifi iv. p. 11. note (p) .— —A few Canary-
birds that have efcaped from an aviary, feelh to have bred; as fuch are frequently
feen, with other fmall birds, in the hedges at Paddingtony in Bedfordjhire.
—^See Bibl. Typogr. Brit. N° 8. p. 13. art, 3:5. ■—— The circtimftance alfo has
occurred of the Canary-bird breeding with the Vengoline,— See Barrington on
Singing Birds. Phil. Tranf. vol. lxiii. 1773. Br .Zool. ii. p. 666.
J See Phil. Tranf. vol. lxiii. or B r . Zool, vol. ii. dpp. N° 5.
|| Olina. § Salerngy
1
i
Serins
M*é