Domestic Canary
Encyclopedia
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
in the finch
Finch
The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
originating from the Macaronesian Islands (Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
and Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
).
Canaries were first bred in captivity
Captivity (animal)
Animals that live under human care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a generalizing term to describe the keeping of either domesticated animals or wild animals. This may include for example farms, private homes and zoos...
in the 17th century. They were brought over by Spanish sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
s to Europe. Monks started breeding them and only sold the males (which sing). This kept the birds in short supply and drove the price up. Eventually Italians obtained hens and were able to breed the birds themselves. This made them very popular and resulted in many breeds arising and the birds being bred all over Europe.
The same occurred in England. First the birds were only owned by the rich but eventually the local citizens started to breed them and, again, they became very popular. Many breeds arose through selective breeding, and they are still very popular today for their voice.
Etymology
Canaries are named after the Canary IslandsCanary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. However, the real etymology of the Canary Islands do not actually mean the "Islands of Canaries", deriving from Latin Insula Canaria (first referring just to Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...
), with the meaning of "Island of Dogs" because it contained "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size".
Varieties
Red factor canary
The red factor canary is a popular breed of canary. It is named after its colourful plumage, and is a 'color canary', bred for the novelty of its color rather than for song...
etc.), Type Canaries (bred for their shape and conformation - Border, Fife, Gloster, Gibber Italicus, Raza Española, Berner, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Mexicana, Australian Plainhead, etc.), and Song Canaries (bred for their unique and specific song patterns - Spanish Timbrado, German Roller (also known as "Harzer Roller"), Waterslager (also known as "Malinois"), American Singer, Russian Singer, Persian Singer).
While wild canaries are a greenish color, domestic canaries have been selectively bred for a wide variety of colors, such as yellow, orange, brown, black, white, and red. (The color red was introduced to the domesticated canary through hybridisation with the red siskin
Red Siskin
The Red Siskin, Carduelis cucullata, is a small passerine bird. This finch is a resident breeding bird in tropical South America in northern Colombia and northern Venezuela...
, a type of South American finch.)
Competitions
Canaries are judged in competitions following the annual molt in the summer. This means that in the northern hemisphere the show season generally begins in October or November and runs through December or January. Birds can only be shown by the person who raised them. A show bird must have a unique band on its leg indicating the year of birth, the band number, and the club to which the breeder belongs.There are many canary shows all over the world. The world show (C.O.M.) is held in Europe each year and attracts thousands of breeders. As many as 20,000 birds are brought together for this competition.
Miner's canary
Canaries were once regularly used in coal miningCoal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
as an early warning system
Warning system
A warning system is any system of biological or technical nature deployed by an individual or group to inform of a future danger. Its purpose is to enable the deployer of the warning system to prepare for the danger and act accordingly to mitigate or avoid it....
. Toxic gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
es such as carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
and carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
in the mine would kill the bird before affecting the miners. Because canaries tend to sing much of the time, they would stop singing prior to succumbing to the gas therefore alerting miners to the danger. The use of so called miner's canaries in British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
mines was phased out in 1987.
Hence, the phrase "canary in a coal mine" is frequently used to refer to a person or thing which serves as an early warning of a coming crisis. By analogy, the term climate canary is used to refer to a species that is affected by an environmental danger prior to other species, thus serving as an early warning system for the other species with regard to the danger.
Use in research
Neurogenesis
Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem and progenitor cells. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons. Recently neurogenesis was shown to continue in several small parts of the brain of...
, or the birth of new neurons in the adult brain, and also for basic research in order to understand how songbirds encode and produce song. Thus, canaries have served as model species for discovering how the vertebrate brain learns, consolidates memories, and recalls coordinated motor movements. Fernando Nottebohm
Fernando Nottebohm
Dr Fernando Nottebohm is a neuroscientist and is the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Professor at Rockefeller University as well as being head of the Laboratory of Animal Behavior and director of the Field Research Center for Ecology and Ethology....
, a professor at the Rockefeller University
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...
in New York City, New York, detailed the brain structures and pathways that are involved in the production of bird song.
Trivia
- Canaries have been depicted in cartoonCartoonA cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s from the middle 20th century as being harassed by domestic catCatThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s; the most famous cartoon canary is Warner Brothers' "Tweety Bird".
- Norwich CityNorwich City F.C.Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
, an EnglishEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
footballFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team is nicknamed 'The Canaries' due to the city once being a famous centre for breeding and export of the birds. The club adopted the colours of yellow and green in homage. Jacob Mackley, of Norwich, won more than 9,000 prizes with birds of the local variety and shipped about 10,000 Norwich to New York every year. In the early 1900s, he opened his aviaries to the public for three days and 10,000 people turned up.
Breeding
Inexperienced breeders find it difficult to determine the sex of canaries by appearance, intensity of colour, or demeanor. Most males sing and most females do not. As spring approaches physical changes are observed in the vent area. The abdomen of the hen becomes more rounded and that of the cock becomes larger and protudes downward in the same direction as the legs.Canaries are only fertile when the length of the day increases to about 12 hours. This occurs naturally in the spring but can be induced earlier through artificial lighting and heating. Good nutrition is essential. Cuttlefish bone is often used to provide calcium for the formation of egg shells. Liquid vitamin drops help guard against deficiencies. Greens are a staple, such as chickweed
Chickweed
Chickweed, a common name, can refer to:* Cerastium - Mouse-ear Chickweed* Holosteum - Jagged Chickweed* Moenchia - Upright Chickweed* Paronychia - Chickweed* Stellaria pro parte - Chickweed...
, seedy (lawn type) grass heads, dandelion, carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
, broccoli
Broccoli
Broccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
, Brussels sprout
Brussels sprout
The Brussels sprout is a cultivar of wild cabbage grown for its edible buds. The leafy green vegetables are typically 2.5–4 cm in diameter and look like miniature cabbages. The sprout is Brassica oleracea, in the "gemmifera" group of the family Brassicaceae...
s, and apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
. There are many recipes for soft food that include ingredients such as hard boiled egg, gelatin
Gelatin
Gelatin is a translucent, colorless, brittle , flavorless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, photography, and cosmetic manufacturing. Substances containing gelatin or functioning in a similar...
, bread crumbs, or biscuit crumbs. A protein-rich soft food, together with sprouted seed, is the fundamental diet of canary chicks.
Canaries are best suited to breeding in a controlled environment with one pair per cage. This is essential for any pedigree show varieties. They can also be bred successfully in an avaiary situation if there is sufficient room, excess nesting sites, and a plentiful supply of nesting material.
Males will often be ready to breed before the females. A cock may pursue a hen relentlessly or fight with her. In these situations the pair is separated until the female has most of the nest built and is more likely to accept the male. Many breeders use a "double breeder" cage with two compartments separated by a removable wire partition. The partition is removed when the pair is observed "kissing" (the male trying to feed the female) through the bars.
An open (uncovered) 4" nest cup is previously installed in an accessible position above the height of the perches. Nesting material such as hessian, plumber's hemp, cotton wool, burlap
Burlap
Hessian , or burlap in the US, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, or may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, and similar products...
, and tissue paper
Tissue paper
Tissue paper is a lightweight paper or, light crêpe paper. Tissue can be made both from virgin and recycled paper pulp.-Properties:Key properties are: strength, absorbency, basis weight, thickness , brightness, stretch, appearance and comfort....
is provided.
The hen lays four or five eggs, on successive days. She rarely leaves the nest during the two weeks of incubation and relies on the cock to bring food. Some breeders remove the first two or three eggs and replace them with dummy eggs. They then return the real eggs when the clutch is completed. This causes the eggs to hatch over fewer days and gives a higher survival rate due to less disparity in the size of the chicks. Fresh soft food and sprouted seed is provided regularly until the chicks are weaned to hard seed.
The chicks leave the nest at about 18 days and are fed by the parents for another week or so. The hen then commences a second round and may attack the first one. At this point the partition is returned in a "double breeder" cage so that the fledglings can be housed in one side. Their parents in the other side feed them through the wire while also proceeding with further breeding.
See also
- Atlantic Canary (wild canary)
- Harz RollerHarz RollerHarz Roller is the name of a breed of domestic canary bred in the Upper Harz mountains of Germany. The birds were bred in the Upper Harz between Lautenthal and Sankt Andreasberg in the middle of the 19th century and achieved European-wide fame...
- British finchesBritish finchesThe British finches are made up of several species of Finch which were formerly very popular as cage birds in Great Britain. Nowadays they are not commonplace, but are still kept by a few dedicated fanciers...
- BirdcageBirdcageA birdcage is a cage designed to house birds as pets.Antique birdcages are often popular as collectors' items or as household decor but most are not suitable for housing live birds, being too small, or of unsafe materials or construction...
- John Scott Haldane
- Canary fightingCanary fightingCanary fighting is an alleged unnatural blood sport in which domestic canaries are made to fight. According to one source male canaries are highly territorial and will often fight other males. However, another source contradicts this, saying they will only fight over mates....