It is found wild in the Canary Islands, and also in several parts of the Continent, particularly the woods of Italy and Greece.
It was not until about the middle of the fifteenth century that these birds were first brought into notice. They were then called sugar birds, from an opinion that they were peculiarly partial to the sugar-cane as food. For some time afterwards they continued so dear that they could only be purchased by persons of fortune.
In Germany, and particularly in the Tyrol, great attention has, of late years, been paid to the breeding and rearing of canary-birds. At Ymst, in the Tyrol, there was formerly a company, who, after the breeding season was over, sent out persons to different parts of Germany and Switzerland, to purchase birds from those who bred them. Each person generally brought with him from three to four hundred birds. These were afterwards carried, for sale, through almost every country of Europe: and were usually conveyed on the backs of those who sold them.
We are informed that, in the Canary Islands, these birds have no song; and it is a well-established fact that nearly all the birds which are kept in cages are indebted for their song to parents, the progenitors of which have been bred with nightingales or tit-larks.
If canary-birds be treated with proper care they will breed three or four times in the year, and become as vigorous and healthy in this country as in their native islands. They are subject to many diseases, to prevent which the greatest care should be taken to provide them with pure water and simple food.
143. The GREY LINNET (Fringilla linota) is a species of finch, of chesnut-brown colour, whitish beneath, the wings with a longitudinal white band, and the tail feathers edged on each side with white.
It is a native of woods and thickets in most parts of Europe, and is sufficiently common in our own island.
The plumage of these birds is of obscure colour, but their song is very sweet. In compass and execution it is inferior only to that of the nightingale. And so imitative are they that they will adopt the notes of almost any other bird with which they are brought up. The experiment was tried with three nestling linnets, one of which was reared under a sky-lark ([145]), another with a wood-lark ([146]), and the third under a tit-lark, and each adhered to the song of its instructor.
Linnets, when full grown, are caught, during the summer months, by twigs smeared with birdlime, or in nets; and, if properly attended to, they soon become tame. But if it be required that they should imitate the notes of other birds, they ought to be taken from the nest when only about ten days old.
These birds generally construct their nests in some thick bush or hedge, forming the outside with dried weeds and straw, and the inside of horse-hair and such soft materials as they can pick up. They lay four or five white eggs speckled with red.