Compendium-Canaries E-Book

Norbert E.W. Schramm

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: Compendium - Canaries
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 435

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

With this volume, the well-known author begins a three-part book series that will cover all breeding directions of canary breeding in a compact form. In volume 1, the interesting history of the Canary's development into a domestic bird is examined from partly new aspects. The book contains tried and tested advice on keeping, caring for and breeding canaries in a manner appropriate to their species, as well as on a balanced, largely natural diet. In addition to an introduction to the anatomy of birds, embryonic development and feather structure, the volume also deals with compactly compiled advice on the treatment of diseases and parasite infestations. The special section of the book explains the four most important song canary breeds and their songs. In addition, there are valuable tips on breeding the song-colour and song-posture canaries. This part of the book is rounded off with tips on breeding and training the song canaries.

Leseprobe

Preface and thanks

Canary breeding with its very different facets is one of the oldest and most widespread bird breeding worldwide, which continues to find its enthusiasts. Therefore, it is time to compile a compact summary of the knowledge about canary breeding.

This compendium of canary breeding is intended to give the interested reader an overview of the history of canaries, their anatomy, keeping and care, hereditary mechanisms and breeding. In several volumes, all present-day breeding directions – song canaries, colour canaries and finch hybrids as well as posture canary breeding are considered.

Since the publication of my book "Farbenkanarien" in 2008, I have received many hints and suggestions and have come to some new insights myself, which can be included in this work.

During my more than 40 years of membership in the traditional Dresden bird breeders' association "Dresdner Kanarienzüchter 1880 und Exotenzüchter e.V." I have met many breeder friends and absorbed their knowledge. Among them were such renowned song canary breeders as Paul Köhler, Eugen Reinicke, Erich Schäfer, and Heinz Vogt, who gave me deeper insights into the breeding and training of Harz Rollers. Even though they are no longer with us today, I often remembered them while writing this book.

I am very happy that I was able to win specialists for this first volume of the compendium who are much better versed in individual areas than I am. Only with their help has this project become possible at all.

I would especially like to thank the breeder friends Doctor Karl-Heinz Eibel, Norbert König and Josef Sandfort, who shared their extensive expertise, especially in the breeding of song canaries.

I would like to thank the veterinarians, Professor Doctor Monika Rinder (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich) and Doctor Meike Buschmann for their review and valuable advice on the diseases and their cures.

I thank Roland Albrecht for the permission to print their entertaining and interesting articles from the song canary history of Tyrol.

I would like to thank the director of the Harzer Roller-Kanarien-Museum in Sankt Andreasberg, Jochen Klähn, for his permission to take photographs of original exhibits.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mrs. Edeltraut Schneider – employee and widow of the bird breeder and author Bernhard Schneider – who was also able to provide many important tips.

I would like to thank the breeder friends Doctor Franz Robiller, Josef Dahlmans, Norbert König, Hans-Peter Roeloffs as well as Jürgen Fränzel and Josef Sandfort – both of whom have unfortunately passed away – who made their pictures available for this work.

Many thanks also to all the unnamed breeder friends whose birds I was allowed to photograph at exhibitions.

A very special thank you to my dear Annegret, who has accompanied my time-consuming and costly hobby with patience and understanding for 40 years.

Norbert E. W. Schramm

Dresden, Summer 2016

Preface and thanks to the English edition

After my three volumes of the Compendium-Canaries were so extremely successful in the German-speaking world, I received more and more enquiries as to whether these volumes were also available in English. I therefore decided to translate the entire compendium into English.

It is not always easy to render the German technical terms in English. Therefore, I would like to thank my British breeder friends Huw Evans and Donald Skinner-Reid for their valuable advice.

A very special thanks goes to Geoff Walker – a well-known English book author – who spared no effort and critically checked my translations and gave many good hints.

Many thanks for this, because without these experts the translation would not have succeeded.

In the explanations I have kept as much as possible to the German edition and only changed or omitted very specific German rules. However, the bird lover will still find many generally valid references.

Dresden, spring 2022

Norbert E. W. Schramm

Content

Preface and thanks

Preface and thanks to the English edition

Evolution and domestication

From dinosaur to bird

Domestication – the artificial evolution

Historia Canaria

When the canary came to Europe

Canaries conquer the world

Canary breeding in Tyrol

Bird trapping and bird trade

Canaries and mining

New home

Different breeding disciplines

Breeders organise

Breed breeding through bird evaluations

Chronological table

The ancestors of today's canaries

Systematics and nomenclature

Atlantic canary

Red Siskin

The Anatomy of Birds

Basic components of life

Peculiarities of bird anatomy

The sexual organs and egg formation

The development of the embryo in the bird's egg

The plumage and its feathers

The feather construction

The topography of the bird

The keeping and care

For the purchase of breeding birds

The housing and keeping of the canaries

Light and air

Important accessories

Regular maintenance work

Diseases and first aid

The diseases and their treatment

The first aid

The Diseases of the digestive organs

The diseases of the respiratory system

The virus-related diseases

The bacterial diseases

The parasite infestation

The other health problems

The medicine cabinet for birds

The quarantine

The cleaning and disinfection of the bird shelter

The despatch of dead birds

Nutrition and feeding

The nutrients and the metabolism

The Vitamins

The minerals

The active ingredients

The water, the elixir of life

The diet and feeding of the canary

The grain food

The soaked food and the sprout food

The cooked feed

The rearing feed and condition feed

The healthy fodder from nature

The fruits and vegetables

The dyestuffs

Breeding canaries

The Breeding and reproduction

The different breeding methods

The preparation for breeding

The health checks

The nesting aids

The nest building

The egg laying and the brood

The nestling period

The juvenile age

About the difficulties in breeding

The juvenile moult and the end of breeding period

Song canaries

The Song Canary Breeds

As the old, so do the young chirp

The description of the canary song

The Harzer Edelroller

Descriptions of the tours

The Timbrado Español

History

The song of the Timbrado Español

Assessment of Timbrado song

The Waterslager

History

The song of the Waterslager

The Slavujar

History

The song of the Slavujar

Song-colour canaries and song-posture canaries

Thoughts on the breeding goals

The song-colour canaries

Song-posture Canaries

The singing school

The first song development

The birds are caged

The first song selection

The preparation for the song evaluation

Putting together a collection

Appendix

Image sources

Bibliography

Evolution and domestication

From dinosaur to bird

According to prevailing expert opinions, birds evolved from small predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda) in the Earth's Middle Ages – about 200 million years ago. Whether these dinosaurs inhabited the ground and moved quickly on their hind legs, or whether they were arboreal dwellers that jumped or sailed from tree to tree, is disputed among scientists.

Picture 1: The evolution of birds.

The dinosaur genus of bipedal theropods probably also included warm-blooded species. The most popular representative of this genus is Tyrannosaurus rex, which – according to the latest research – had feathers as a young animal but lost them during its life.1 It is assumed that an independent branch of the family tree developed from these early dinosaurs, which led via warm-blooded, feathered dinosaurs to the primitive birds.

In 1860, the first specimen of a "primeval bird" was found in the 150-million-year-old Solnhofer Plattenkalk (Altmühltal, Bavaria). It was given the name Archaeopteryx, which means "old feather" or "old wing".

For a long time, it was regarded as the link between reptiles (dinosaurs) and the "modern" birds, as it shows characteristics of both animal classes. The long tailspin, the toothed jaw, the missing sternum, and other skeletal parts are reptilian features. The clavicles fused into a forked leg, the hollow bones and the modern-looking asymmetrical wing feathers are features of modern birds. However, these features were later found in other theropods. To date, 10 specimens of Archaeopteryx have been found and studied in detail.

In the eyes of some scientists, Archaeopteryx no longer represents the missing link in the evolution from reptile to bird but is regarded as an extinct branch in the family tree of feathered dinosaurs.

In Africa, in the Republic of Niger, footprints of raptors – small predatory dinosaurs – that lived about 170 million years ago, 20 million years before Archaeopteryx, were recently found. These raptors walking on their hind extremities are considered the ancestors of birds.2

Some fossils of prehistoric birds – only slightly younger than Archaeopteryx – also had a toothed beak, but other species did not.

In the last 30 years, a whole series of bird-like dinosaurs (or dinosaur-like birds) have been found – especially in China. Among them is the Caudipteryx – Feathertail – (age about 125 to 110 million years) with an edentulous beak, arm wings and a comparatively short tail. The feathers were still symmetrical in structure and resembled down feathers, as we can also find in flightless birds today.3

Also in China, about 1000 exemplars of the primitive bird genus Confuciusornis, which lived 125 to 110 million years ago, have been found to date. These species also have many more characteristics of modern birds – and fewer characteristics of reptiles – than Archaeopteryx. The feathers were already asymmetrical, as we know it from today's flying birds. According to the latest findings, they had white, black, and orange-brown spotted feathers.4

Picture 2: Until now, the colouring of dinosaur representations was pure conjecture - researchers have now clarified the appearance of the Sinosauropteryx.

About 105 to 115 million years ago, and thus somewhat younger, lived the water bird Gansus yumenensis, which was found in northwest China in 2006. It had much more modern features and can be considered a direct ancestor of the birds living today.5

Picture 3: This is what the Feathertail (Caudipteryx) might have looked like.

Picture 4: Confuciusornis sanctus with prehensile claws on the wings.

The birds (Aves) living today are classified – together with the amphibians (Amphibia), reptiles (Reptilia) and mammals (Mammalia) – in the series of terrestrial vertebrates (Tetrapoda). According to more recent views, birds and reptiles belong together in a subseries Sauropsida (Reptilia + Aves) within the terrestrial vertebrates. In this sense, the dinosaurs are not extinct at all! Their descendants continue to fly, run, and swim as lizards and birds in our modern age.

Domestication – the artificial evolution

All the domestic animals we know today, and our useful plants have evolved from wild animal and plant species. Early humans hunted animals and gathered plants. Gradually, over the course of many millennia, these activities were replaced by the deliberate reproduction of animals and plants. People no longer had to follow animals, and by growing plants they could live in one place permanently.

The domestic dog is probably the oldest pet of mankind. Scientists estimate that the domestication of the wolf in Europe began about 25,000 years ago.6 A genetic calculation shows that the dog and the wolf separated as a species at least 135,000 years ago, so we must assume that the wolf has been a companion of humans much longer than the dog.7

The diversity of today's dog breeds is due to the unconscious application of genetic laws. In many a dog litter there were puppies that differed a little from their parents in shape or temperament. For example, individual dogs may have been more eager to hunt, better able to withstand cold or heat, or simply more beautiful in the eyes of humans. Depending on the value of these characteristics, it was mainly dogs with these traits that were used for further breeding.

What began with the wolf was also attempted with other animals in later millennia. Slowly, step by step, individual breeds developed from different animal and plant species. Without any science, based only on experience – which was certainly also passed on orally – desirable characteristics could be consolidated, and improved, and undesirable ones suppressed.

Some birds become pet animals

Birds have exerted an extremely strong fascination on us humans for many millennia. In all peoples of the world, they have held a special place since time immemorial.

Birds can fly, move freely in the air and have thus given rise to mankind's age-old dream of flight. So, it is not surprising that birds have played a major role in the myths of peoples and still do today. Birds are often the expression and worship of the immortal soul, heavenly angels, or beings of the gods.

The often very magnificent bird feathers serve as body ornaments and are used in ritual acts. Birds have found their way into the culture of all peoples and are closely rooted in heraldry, music, fine arts, and linguistic images.

Picture 5: A typical sing-sing scene of the indigenous people of Papua New Guinea with feather decoration.

Birds are hunted and eaten, their droppings are used as fertiliser (guano) and for several millennia they have been domesticated as sources of meat, eggs, and feathers for domestic animals. They still represent an important economic sector today.

Many bird species are characterised by melodic calls and songs or have graceful or droll behaviour. All these characteristics move us to take care of birds as pets and domestic animals, to tame, breed and multiply them. They became our close companions.

The keeping and breeding of ornamental birds serves less the physical needs than the emotional balance of their owners. In the past, birds were captured for this purpose – in some parts of the world this still happens today – raised and kept in cages as singers. It is said that Alexander the Great (356 to 326 BC) kept parakeets for his own pleasure and that they accompanied him on his campaigns. The Alexandrine parakeet (Psittacula eupatria) today bears the name of this ancient commander.

Along with the Bengalese finch (Lonchura striata domestica), the canary is one of the first bird species to become a pet as an ornamental bird. The canary is a special case in the history of domestication: It is the only species whose vocal apparatus – and thus the species' own song – has been modified through breeding.

Picture 6: Rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

Picture 7: The Bengalese finch is the first bird species to be bred in captivity for ornamental purposes.

1 Xu, X., Norell, M. A., Kuang, X., Wang, X., Zhao, Q., Jia, C.: Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids. In: Nature. 431, Nr. 7009, 2004, S. 680–684.

2 Joger, U.: Natural Science Museum Braunschweig. At: https://www.geo.de/natur/tierwelt/5193-rtkl-palaeontologie-die-ersten-ihrer-art [03.04.2022

3 Brown, R.: Neuer vogelartiger Dinosaurier hatte moderne Federn. At: https://www.nationalgeographic.de/wissenschaft/2017/05/neuer-vogelartiger-dinosaurier-hatte-moderne-federn[03.04.2022]

4 Benton, M. et al: University of Bristol. 2009. Unter: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/dinosaurier-farbe-erstmals-identifiziert-echse-in-rotgelb-1.79839 [Stand: 03.04.2022].

5 Hai-Lu You, Harris, J.: In: Science, 2006, Bd. 312, S.1640.

6 Trittsiegelfund von Hundepfoten in der Grotte Chauvet im französischen Ardèche-Tal (Spiegel 45/1999).

7 Natanaelsson, Ch.; Oskarsson, M.; Angleby, H.; Lundeberg, J.; Kirkness, E.; Savolainen, P.: Dog Y chromosomal DNA sequence: identification, sequencing and SNP discovery. At: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1630699 [03.04.2022].

Historia Canaria

When the canary came to Europe

The domestication of the Atlantic canary, also wild canary, or island canary, (Serinus canaria) into today's canary began more than 500 years ago. The cultural history is entwined with many stories that can be found in literature again and again in this or similar form. Today we must assume that many of the traditions are not exact. Often the facts and time periods have been falsified by retelling them according to hearsay, and fantasy and romance have been incorporated into the stories. It is therefore hardly possible to uncover the true events of this cultural history. Today, we must make do with what we know for certain and can, at best, draw appropriate conclusions from this.

The Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira were known long before the Portuguese and Spanish conquered them. The Canary Islands have been inhabited by humans for more than 5,000 years, as archaeological finds prove. In the course of this long time, people from Africa and Europe have repeatedly reached the island groups. Early advanced civilisations and seafaring nations – such as the Phoenicians – were already familiar with all three island groups, as coin finds prove. This also applies to later centuries, as we can see from ancient reports by Diodorus, Pliny the Elder and Plutarch.8

Another, less pictorial and therefore more memorable explanation is derived from the Latinised name of the Berber tribe Canarii.

Those people and nations who inhabited or visited the Atlantic islands at that time must have known the Canary Island bird - which the Spanish and Portuguese call "Canario". Unfortunately, it is not known whether they took notice of it at that time because of its appearance or its pretty song.

Like so much else, this ancient knowledge was lost in medieval Europe. It was not until 1312 that the Genoese merchant and navigator LANCELETTO MALOCELLO (born around 1270, died after 1336) rediscovered the Canary Islands for Europe at that time. The island of Lanzarote is said to have been named after him.

Picture 8: Sailing ship of bygone times. With such ships, the Canary Islands were rediscovered for Europe.

In 1336, Malocello set off again with a fleet from Lisbon for the Canary Islands and gave the island of Lanzarote to the Portuguese Crown as a possession. Based on his fantastic reports, and with the blessing of Pope CLEMENS VI. (around 1290 to 1352), Spaniards and Portuguese set out on expeditions towards the Canary Islands around 1342. They brought back furs, dyes and slaves, but there is no indication that birds were part of the cargo.

During these and later campaigns of conquest against the bravely resisting indigenous population, the Guanches, and their Christianisation, this culture was almost destroyed.

JEAN DE BÉTHENCOURT (1362 to 1425), the sailor, knight and adventurer of Norman origin was a chamberlain in the service of the French king CHARLES VI. He fell out with his French king and therefore offered his services to the Castilian royal house under HEINRICH III. (1379 to 1406). On 1 May 1402, Béthencourt set sail from La Rochelle with two ships and a crew of 80 men to conquer the Canary Islands for the Castilian royal house. He was supported by GADIFER DE LA SALLE (1340 to 1415), squire of Duke JEAN DE BERRY (1340 to 1416). He was able to establish himself on Lanzarote but lacked the strength to conquer the other islands.

Leaving behind a governor, he went back to Spain and returned in 1403 with the necessary reinforcements. By 1406, he had conquered the islands of Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro, but not La Palma, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

These islands were taken for the Spanish royal house by the Andalusian conqueror and navigator ALONSO LUIS FERNÁNDEZ DE LUGO (1456 to 1525) from 1483 to 1496. In 1405 Béthencourt returned to France to the French King Charles VI. The latter was interested in hunting falcons, carrier pigeons for the transmission of news and, for relaxation and distraction, also in songbirds. He is said to have received a few Canary Island gallinules as a gift from Béthencourt.

The Azores and Madeira were conquered by the Portuguese around 1430 and settled with Portuguese and Flemish farmers. Today, these islands still belong to Portugal and thus also to the European Union.

Exactly when the first Canary Island birds arrived in Europe from the Atlantic islands therefore remains in the darkness of history. It is undisputed that sailors, pirates, merchants, or the military brought many a bird home to enjoy, sell or give away.

The Spanish monks are said to have bred these small, grey-green birds in their monasteries – the monastery of Cádiz is particularly mentioned here.

Picture 9: Jean de Béthencourt

This is how it is written in every treatise on the history of the canary. But there are no reliable documents for this either. It is undisputed that the monasteries in the late Middle Ages not only played a religious role but were also centres of knowledge. Nuns and monks were concerned with medicine, herbal medicine and plant and animal breeding and passed on their knowledge in the monastery schools.

Many monasteries-maintained farms with agriculture and animal husbandry in order to sustain themselves economically. So, it seems obvious that the nuns and monks were also involved in the keeping and later breeding of the wild Canary. There would have been a lot of money to be made from the trade in the breeding birds. There is also a story about this that has been passed down:

To maintain the Spanish monopoly on canary breeding – and thus an important source of income – only male canaries were allowed to be exported. This made successful breeding in other regions difficult, and the breeding of canaries therefore remained firmly in Spanish hands until the middle of the 16th century.

However, it is quite possible that the Portuguese monks were also involved in the keeping and breeding of the wild Canary; after all, the Azores and Madeira were in Portuguese hands and thus there was certainly the possibility of obtaining wild catches of this bird species. It is reported that in 1418 the navigator JOÃO GONÇALVES ZARCO (around 1380 to around 1467) was looking for a sea route to India and the Far East and found the island of Madeira. According to other sources, however, it was the navigator ENRIQUE MARIN (1394 to 1460) who found the island of Madeira in 1420.9 Since then, wild canary from this island are said to have reached Portugal.

Picture 10: Today's view of the Convent of Our Lady of Rosario and Santo Domingo (Convento de Nuestra Señora del Rosario y Santo Domingo) in Cádiz (Spain).

With sailing ships, large quantities of goods could be transported relatively quickly and easily. There was a lively trade in goods between the ports of Spain, Portugal, England, France, the Netherlands, and the city states of northern Italy. The first exported birds certainly reached these European coastal countries first by sea. There is another figurative legend about the spread of the first Canary Island birds – or were they already domesticated canaries?

Between 1573 and 1645 (depending on the author), it is claimed, a Spanish ship on the voyage to Livorno got caught in a heavy storm. The ship had many male canaries on board, which managed to escape to the nearby island of Elba after the shipwreck. There they mated with the native European Serin (Serinus serinus, Linnaeus 1766). With these hybrids, the Italians are said to have started their own canary breeding.

This story is also told, somewhat modified, by ANTONIO VALLI DA TODI in his book "Il Canto de gl'Augelli" (The Song of the Birds), published in 1601. In Tuscany there are said to have been canary hybrids, descendants of real canaries with native birds, namely the siskin. These hybrids were said to be much more yellow at the throat than the wild ones in the Canary Islands and the males had darker feet.10

These stories are nice, but they cannot be proven and cannot be taken seriously from a genetic point of view. The Spanish monopoly probably did not break up because of a shipping accident, but there will have been undetected females among the exported males. A mistake made by the breeders at that time, which can still happen to experienced canary breeders today. The reports, however, unanimously tell that hybrid with the native "finch birds" were already being produced.

Picture 11: Historical hand-coloured drawing of the Atlantic canary.

Canaries conquer the world

The Swiss physician and naturalist CONRAD GESSNER (1516 to 1565), famous for his "Bibliotheca universalis" and his natural history "Historiae animalium" (History of Animals), is one of the founders of modern zoology. In addition to most of the very naturalistic depictions in his books, however, there are also numerous fabulous creatures.

In his work "Historiae animalium" (the first edition was published in 1551), he describes the Canary or canary as a "little sugar bird" (avicula saccharia), which originates from the Canary Islands and reached German regions from Italy:

"The little bird 'canaria' was brought by merchants from the Canary Islands, & it is commonly called 'avicula saccharia', sugar bird." ... "'Goldvögelchen', 'uccello d'oro' it is called by the Italians, a little bird, small like the 'citrinella' [citril finch] and equally fond of singing, golden on the breast, wherefore it may be called in Latin 'aureola'; it has been brought to the Germans from Italy." ... "Of this breed are those which in England are called canaries." ... "They are fed in cages for their song, of which wonderful song it surpasses all of this sex with the exception of the 'serinus' [serin]." ... "The bird is of the size of a common tit, with a white, small, and tapering bill: the wing and tail feathers are all of a green colour: only very little distinguished from those little birds which ours call 'citrinas'."11 Gessner did not see the wild canary himself but described it according to a friend's report.

When Gessner returned from a study trip to England in 1550, he reported on the beautiful song canaries that were widespread in England.

Picture 12: Conrad Gessner

When Gessner returned from a study trip to England in 1550, he reported on the beautiful song canaries that were widespread in England.

In the homes of wealthy citizens and at the princely courts of Europe, it quickly became fashionable to own the valuable canaries. They were kept in golden cages for their song. In many a garden, the richly decorated canary aviaries were the main attraction.

Around 1575 or 1590, the first canaries are said to have arrived at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England. (1533 to 1603).13 The adventurer and writer WALTER RALEIGH (1552 or 1554 to 1618) is said to have brought back wild canaries from his journey to the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores and offered them as a gift to His Majesty in a golden cage. In 1596, Raleigh took part in the conquest of the Spanish city of Cádiz and may thus have obtained these birds.

The aviaries – which are also said to have already housed pure yellow canaries – were often visited by the queen and lovingly looked after and propagated by many servants. The Queen gave away canaries to deserving subjects, which led to a gradual increase in the number of canary lovers. Seen in this light, Queen Elizabeth I played a major part in the spread of canary keeping in England. Even the famous WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 to 1616) is said to have recited in his verses about the Queen and her canaries.

Picture 13: Conrad Gessner and the mention of the canary in volume 3 of his "Historia animalum".

Picture 14: Cover page and page on the wild canary in the work "Ornithologiae" by Ulisse Aldrovandi.

The Heidelberg prelate MARCUS ZUM LAMM (1544 to 1606) created his unpublished handwritten 33-volume encyclopaedia "Thesaurus Pictuarum" (Pictorial Treasure) around 1580. Three volumes are devoted to the Central European bird fauna of the 16th century. Picture 324 shows a very yellowish canary with clearly visible "pheasant ears". This could be a first pictorial reference to crested canaries. Even in modern times, his bird pictures with explanations and finding places are important scientific material on historical ecology and ornithology, since currently climate change was already taking place in Europe - it was the beginning of the coldest period of the "Little Ice Age".

Picture 16: Marcus zum Lamm

Picture 15: Very yellow "crested" canary from the "Thesaurus Pictuarum" by Marcus zum Lamm.

The oppression of the Huguenots in France led to numerous civil wars between 1562 and 1598, culminating in the massacre of French Protestants on St Bartholomew's Eve. Many thousands of Huguenots emigrated to other Protestant countries – the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Germany, America, and some Scandinavian countries – in the following decades. According to tradition, the French Protestants took their canaries with them to their new homeland and continued to breed them there. Today's English canary breed "Lizard" is said to have come from France to England in this way. This saga must be viewed critically today. No human being fleeing from hardship and persecution would burden himself with live birds during the perilous flight. Cages and food would also have had to be lugged along. However, it can be concluded from the legend that there were already numerous canary breeding establishments in France in the middle of the 16th century.

The Italian physician and naturalist ULISSE ALDROVANDI (1522 to 1605) – who is also one of the "fathers of zoology" – dedicated more than one page to the wild Canary in his three-volume work "Ornithlogia", which is part of his 11-volume "Historia animalium". He still listed this bird species under the name "Passeribus Canariis", but also reported on the spread of the wild Canary from Italy to Germany. Aldrovandi's works are also richly illustrated with exquisite woodcuts, and he too was not only concerned with the animals actually observed, but also wrote, among other things, a work on monsters (Monstrorum historia).

Picture 17: Ulisse Aldrovandi

Picture 18: Cover page of the work "Uccelliera" published in Rome by G. P. Olina.

It is therefore very likely that canaries reached other regions of Europe much earlier. According to other evidence, canaries were already being traded at this time in France, Holland, Belgium, and Tyrol, but also in Turkey, Egypt, and Russia.

Canary literature usually also mentions an Olina, who published the first good description of the wild canary. The Italian GIOVANNI PIETRO OLINA (1585? to 1645) was a philosopher, Doctor of Law and naturalist and published his work "Uccelliera" in Rome in 1622 – and a second variant in Bracciano. A second edition was published after his death in 1684. The hand-coloured illustrations, which were outstanding for the time, and the study of catching and breeding methods round off his work. The song of the birds is also described and the methods of stimulating song, which seem strange to us today: first thirteen and later four different instruments are to be played, such as trumpet, guitar, flute, cello, and spinet.1415

Picture 19 and Picture 20: Two still life of flowers with white and yellow canary by Johann Adalbert Angermeyer (1674 to 1740).

Picture 21: Child with Doll (and with Canary) by Christian Leberecht Vogel (1759 to 1816).

Picture 22: Lukas Schröck

Many ladies had themselves depicted with a canary in paintings. The first pictures of more or fewer yellow canaries are known to us from the watercolours of the Nuremberg painter LAZARUS ROTRING (died 1614) and other artists.16

Later it is the Augsburg artist LUKAS SCHRÖCK, latinised name SCHROECKIUS, (1646 to 1730) who describes the yellow canaries as widespread in his writings in 1677.17

The English ornithologist FRANCIS WILLUGHBY (1635 to 1672) was a friend and student of the British naturalist JOHN RAY (1627 to 1705). Willughby was unable to publish his research results due to his early death. His teacher and colleague John Ray made up for this in 1676 by posthumously publishing Willughby's work "Ornithologia libri tres", illustrated by Willughby's wife Emma.18 In this book it is reported that canaries were brought to England in abundance from Germany and are thus called "German birds". These birds excel particularly in song.19

JEAN-CLAUDE HERVIEUX DE CHANTEOUP (1683 to 1747) published the first work on the breeding of canaries in France in 1709 with the title "Nouveau traité des serins des Canaries".20 In 1712 a Dutch translation followed (Traité curieux des serins de canarie – Naaukeurige verhandeling over de kanarivogels). The first English translation dates from 1719, and an Italian version was printed in 1724. Even after his death, five more editions followed until 1785. In the 1st edition, he described 10 different colours of canaries, including white canaries with red eyes.

Picture 23: Magnificent cage for canaries and other small birds.

Due to the variety of spotting and the different colouring of the yellow plumage colour and their combinations, he already distinguished 29 distinguishable colours in a later edition.21

Chanteloup was appointed by the French Princess and Duchess de Berry MARIE LOUISE ÉLISABETH (1695 to 1719) as director of her canary breeding.

Around 1715, the Margrave KARL WILHELM VON BADEN-DURLACH (1679 to 1738) began building the "Favoriteschloss" in the Hardtwald near Durlach and had extensive gardens laid out. This Durlach palace garden was equipped with glass houses that housed the orangery and rare exotic plants.

In the north-eastern part of the park was a large aviary which housed 300 canaries, among other things. These could also fly in and out freely and are said to have nested in the bushes and trees of the garden.22

The Dutchman FRANS VAN WICKEDE (1750) already knows some colours, which he describes as "assante, agate, isabell, pied, lemon, snow-white and golden-yellow".

The esteem in which the canaries were held in the rich aristocratic and bourgeois houses was also expressed in the form and furnishings of the bird cages. No material was too expensive, no artistic effort too great to be able to present the canaries appropriately. Practical aspects of daily bird care played no or only a very subordinate role.

Picture 24: Francis Willughby

Picture 25: John Ray

Picture 26 and Picture 27: Various editions of Willughby's Ornithologia libri tres

Picture 28: Hervieux de Chanteloup's work from 1712 in original language and with Dutch translation.

Picture 29: The canary book by F. van Wickede from 1750.

Picture 30: View of the city of Karlsruhe. Engraving by Heinrich Schwarz, 1721.

How the Canaria canaries came to Tyrol

By Roland Albrecht

By selling only the males, the (Spanish) monks had an absolute monopoly on breeding for almost two hundred years, making breeding outside their monastery walls impossible. They kept sales very tight to keep the price of the much sought-after birds high. All attempts to crossbreed the birds with other finches and bullfinches failed or the common parts were dominant.

The trade in canaries was not only an important economic factor for the monks, it was important for the whole of Spain, so that the Spanish court, which was richly supplied with the birds, had an immense interest in maintaining the monopoly. The covetousness of the European courts grew ad infinitum in the 17th century, so that more and more wanted a share in this business. Some princes north of the Alps offered high rewards for the transfer of one or more canary hens. Far-sighted contemporary economists warned urgently against a development like that in Holland, where on 5 February 1637, with the sudden end of the so-called tulip mania, many respected, rich merchants lost their entire fortune overnight and ended up on the begging bowl. All attempts to get hold of female canaries failed, the isolation of song canary breeding seemed perfect. In some writings from that time, it is often reported that the monasteries of the "bird cowl", as the monks were called, resembled besieged castles, strangers would constantly loiter around the monasteries in the hope of catching an escaped female.

Abbot Anton the Benign of the Capuchin monastery, built in 1679 with generous donations from the Hall councillor Peter Tasch and other benefactors, had been annoyed for years about the monopoly of his Spanish co-religionists that he did everything he could to break this monopoly of canary breeding. All efforts to obtain canary hens by friendly means were unsuccessful, so that in 1699 he sent out five young, daredevil boys to procure females. Before they set off, he instructed them in the art of keeping and transporting birds.

These boys were Johann Rupert from Matrei in East Tyrol, the brothers Konrad and Joseph Streiter, Georg Kammerlander, all from Imst, and Christopherus Kathan from Vorarlberg.

These five crossed the Alps with letters of recommendation from the abbot in their luggage, which identified them as pious Tyroleans from Imst and who intended to enter a Spanish monastery because the northern monasteries were too cold for them. But firmly anchored in their minds was that as soon as they had female canaries, they would return immediately. In the first monasteries they were turned away, but in the fifth monastery, where they were presented, two of them were able to start as servants, the other three were temporarily employed as labourers in a nearby monastery. After a year, the time had come: they had kidnapped some hens and cocks without being noticed and made off. Their return journey went over the Pyrenees, up the Rhone valley, past Lake Constance, and their first stop back home was in Vorarlberg in Fraxern, where Christopherus came from. All the way back they were always afraid that the Spanish monks would pursue them and take revenge, or at least destroy their canaries.

To prevent this from happening in the future, they left some of the birds in Fraxern, swore an oath to their parents never to say anything about the birds and continued their journey to Imst.

What the boys didn't know, however, was that the Spanish monks didn't pursue them, they didn't even notice, many servants disappeared overnight, and that the monopoly had been broken for a long time anyway, on a broad basis even. English traders had secretly imported wild birds from the Canary Islands themselves.

From: http://www.hiddenmuseum.net/albrecht.html [03.04.2022]

Canary breeding in Tyrol

In the period between the 15th and 20th centuries, there were many silver, zinc and lead mines in Imst, which were among the most important in Tyrol. Iron ore in particular was important for silver production and indispensable for smelting. The miners, mainly from Saxony and Thuringia, had a good influence on trade and commerce, in addition to other reasons. When silver mining came to an end in Schwaz, mining in Imst also came to a standstill.

The people of Imst were also known throughout Europe for their bird trade (breeding and selling canaries), which reached its peak between the 16th and 18th centuries. Around 1780, the breeding of canaries in Imst in Tyrol developed into a real business. The miners living there, who earned their living in the silver mines, took up the additional income opportunity of breeding and selling canaries.

As early as 1806, there is evidence of a full-time bird trader in a town register. There is also a record of a letter of route through Nuremberg for a bird dealer from 1705.

The 18th century was marked by economic decline: The dwindling ore deposits and the impoverished farmers due to the division of land ownership caused the former prosperity of Imst to dwindle. In 1821 a great catastrophe occurred: a conflagration caused by soap production destroyed 206 of the totals of 220 houses. 23

The Tyrolean miners were probably the first canary breeders to achieve a certain fame. This was certainly helped by the fact that they improved the song of the canaries by using nightingales as teacher. This is how the world-famous "Tyrolean nightingale singers" came into being. If this really succeeded, we must still take our hats off reverently to these breeders today. Nightingales, as insectivores and soft feeders, are migratory birds and have their main song season in spring and summer. Young canaries, however, learn to sing in late summer and autumn, a time when nightingales are preparing to head south and no longer sing. The Tyrolean breeders therefore had to move the breeding season of the canaries forward or the song season of the nightingales backwards. Both require a high level of knowledge about the birds' needs. The fame of the Tyrolean breeders at that time may be one reason why nothing was written down about other breeding’s in Europe, although they probably existed in other countries.

Tyrolean Historia bird Canaria traders

by Dr. Ludwig von Hörmann

The Tyrolean people have a naive and at the same time deep feeling for nature and everything connected with it. The Tyroleans are particularly fond of birds. You will hardly find a farmhouse parlour that does not house a crossbill, which climbs high up on the roof in its little wire cage and, according to popular belief, has to protect the house from misfortune and witchcraft and from all illnesses of the occupants. Likewise, such a spiritus familiaris accompanies the village cart on its vagrant journeys. Other birds also enjoy protection and veneration, e.g., the friendly house martins, the "Brandele" (redstart) consecrated to Our Lady, and in some places in the Upper Inn Valley a cage with a bird at the bottom is even hung on the coffin at funerals.

So bird breeding found the most suitable ground in Tyrol. In winter, which lasts long enough in the Alpine country, the little fosterlings were brought up, taught all kinds of tricks with unspeakable effort and whistled short ditties to them until the feathered pupils finally whistled them impeccably. Later, they had specially constructed little "Örgelen" for this purpose. When summer came, the "bird carrier" took his "Vogelkraxen", a carrying frame for twenty or more small cages, on his back and set off on his wanderings. This was mostly accompanied by very happy success. The trade in birds grew steadily, as keeping these cute singers had become fashionable around this time. Well-tamed specimens that could whistle a learned melody were sought-after and paid for with heavy gold.

So these people with their bird cots wandered through Europe on foot in all directions; at the German fairs, as well as on the streets of Vienna, London and Paris, one could meet these handsome, strong lads in their picturesque mountain costumes, and everywhere they were welcome guests. Their wanderlust and acquisitiveness drove them as far as Petersburg and Constantinople.

Gelbe Vögel trag' ich aus, [Yellow birds I carry out,] Gold'ne Vögel bring' ich z' Haus“ [Gold birds I bring home]

was the motto of their guild, which proved to be true in most cases. Thus, the initially modest business gradually took off. Whole colonies of canaries were kept, bred, and trained.

The bird-bearers formed their own guild and engaged in trade on a large scale; the "bird-bearers" soon became "bird-lords", who considered it more convenient and profitable to stay at home themselves, preferring to send reliable people abroad with the singing goods. Imst in particular was the headquarters of this new branch of industry. There were wealthy inmates there who pooled capital for this purpose and then shared the profits. In the best of times, some of these "profit makers" made 3 - 600 imperial guilders a year. One remembers the rich Tamerl in Imst and his faithful ox carrier Seraphin, whom Spindler glorified in his "Vogelhändler von Imst" (Bird Trader of Imst), this unique example of honesty, although he was a Vinschger (from the Vinschgau). Otherwise, people from Swabia were usually chosen because they had a special reputation for honesty. But it was precisely this circumstance that brought the matter to ruin. For when the good Swabians realised that the craft had such a golden bottom, they gave up their sponsorship, shifted to breeding themselves and transplanted the whole trade to Swabia. The competition became fiercer and fiercer, the canaries were no longer rare commodities as they had been in the past, and as a result they lost value. Despite this, the Tyrolean traders maintained their reputation for a long time, until at last the trade became more and more out of fashion. Now, of course, the whole glory was coming to an end.

The only remaining cultural-historical curiosity is the famous "Vogelball" (bird ball) in Oberhofen, which gathers all the bird fanciers from the Inn valley to listen to the harmless competition of the feathered singers and to keep up with the "hunter's Latin" through classical "bird Latin". But that's for another time.

At: http://www.sagen.at/doku/hoermann_beitraege/tiroler_vogelhaendler.html [03.04.2022]

Bird trapping and bird trade

With the spread of canary breeding, the price also fell, so that poorer sections of the population could earn from a sideline of breeding canaries.

The boom in canary breeding is closely linked to the mining industry and the resulting industrialisation of large areas of Europe. In the German mining regions of the Saarland, the Ruhr, Silesia, the Ore Mountains, and the Harz, and in the English mining regions, most canary breeders were present. By selling birds that they had bred, the miners could earn a sideline. The production of cages and the sale of necessary feed also secured an additional source of income for some families.

Picture 31: All the members of the Bleßmann family helping to assemble the "Harzer Bauer".

Canary breeding was closely related to the catching and keeping of so-called "forest birds". Long before canaries were kept and bred, people brought native birds into their parlours and homes to enjoy their song and natural beauty.

Many grain-eating carduelids were popular, e.g., goldfinch, siskin, serin, greenfinch, bullfinch, crossbills, and linnets. However, the more demanding song lovers also kept the so-called softbills, such as larks, robins, nightingales, warblers, or thrushes in cages. Every year in autumn and winter, bird catchers caught these birds in the flocks with the help of glue rods, nets or decoys and sold them to the enthusiasts.

At that time, only a few bird keepers thought about breeding these birds, as the demand from the – at that time still abundant – bird world could be secured.

Picture 32: Talking shop in front of the Bird hut. Oil miniature by M. Mühlig.

The lovers of the "forest birds" were certainly the first to acquire canaries. They complemented the domestic bird concert with their song. But these birds, which were new at that time, could not be bought all the time, because they were still rare and more expensive than native wild-caught birds. Breeding these canaries was a sensible way out and ultimately offered an additional source of income.

Soon it was discovered – by chance or already with breeding consideration – that some "finches" entered a mixed marriage with a canary, which then also produced hybrid´s.

The male hybrids were very often excellent singers for which a high price could be obtained. However, hybrids were only fertile in very few cases, so that these mating’s had to be carried out again and again. These bird lovers founded another branch of bird breeding – hybrid breeding, or as we say today, the production of hybrids between canaries and carduelids.

Picture 33: Carrying frame of the bird traders with many individual cages. On display in the Harzer-Roller-Museum Sankt Andreasberg.

Picture 34: Passport of a bird trader from 1831.

The bred canaries and hybrids as well as the captured wild birds were transported all over the world by bird traders. The bird traders-built backpacks with many small cages that could hold up to 200 birds and travelled on foot from place to place. The arrival of a bird trader was eagerly awaited and often celebrated with a public festival. Their wanderings took them all over Europe, even as far as England and Turkey.

From the year 1739 it is recorded that a Tyrolean bird trader migrated as far as Moscow for the 12th time. Bird traders also received a kind of passport certifying that no epidemic – such as the plague – had broken out in their place of origin.

When buying the birds that had been bred, the bird trader had to be able to assess the vocal or colour quality of the birds. If they met expectations, a higher price could be obtained – both for the breeder and the trader. Seen in this light, the bird traders of earlier times were the first "price" judges. Their judgement thus had a considerable influence on the enhancement of the vocal and colour qualities of the canaries, and in this way, the bird carriers indirectly promoted canary breeding.

Bird catchers and bird traders also played an important role in poetry and music.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 to 1791) created a lasting monument to this profession with the bird catcher Papageno – who was very much connected with the birds of the forest – in "The Magic Flute" (first performance in Vienna in 1791).

Today largely forgotten is the popular novel "Der Vogelhändler von Imst" (1841, 4 volumes) by the German writer KARL SPINDLER (1796 to 1855), also known under the pseudonym Max Hufnagl.

Still very well-known and popular among operetta lovers today is the operetta "Der Vogelhändler" by the Austrian CARL ADAM ZELLER (1842 to 1898), which premiered in Vienna in 1891. One of the main roles is reserved for the bird dealer Adam from Tyrol.

Canaries and mining

The miners took a canary or a native bird with them in a small cage into the depths of the then primitive and dangerous mines. These small birds react sensitively to an acute lack of oxygen, caused by the escape of carbon monoxide, and thus indicated an imminent danger to the miners, from which they could then get to safety in time.

Even transporting the birds underground was no easy task. When descending and ascending into the pits and shafts, one literally had "one's hands full". With one hand you had to hold on to the ladder or man engine, the other hand carried the oil lamp. So, you had to build little birdcages that the miners could put under their armpits. These "armpit cages" were therefore very small and offered very little space for the bird.

Several birds were often stationed in the Lamp rooms, which announced the approaching, life-threatening, Firedamp by their behaviour underground to protect the miners.

The former use of canaries can in any case be regarded as a fact. The Freiberg Mining Academy informed that in the past in potash mining, mice, for example, were left in a cage on site after the shift. The condition of these mice was then evaluated at the beginning of the next shift as a sign of the presence or even absence of poisonous gases.

A mining expert explained that years ago canaries were used to warn of so-called "dull weather" (low oxygen air) when driving new mine fields, so that the miners could still get to safety or a change in the air supply was made possible. The poisonous gas "indicated" by the canaries is carbon monoxide, which can be particularly dangerous to miners. Carbon monoxide (chemical formula: CO) is a colourless, odourless, and tasteless flammable gas. Carbon monoxide is formed during the incomplete oxidation of substances containing carbon.

Carbon monoxide is an extremely dangerous respiratory poison because it binds to haemoglobin about 325 times more strongly than oxygen and thus impedes the transport of oxygen in the blood. The poisoning can first manifest itself in headaches and can lead to death through various stages.

Picture 36: Miner with canary underground.

Picture 35: Miners' armpit cage

Carbon monoxide is a danger to humans even in relatively small doses in the air we breathe. But before an externally detectable reaction to the inhalation of carbon monoxide doses can be observed in humans, small animals already show typical reactions. Sooner or later, the blood reaches that concentration of carbon monoxide that leads to complete 'helplessness'. With the heavy physical work that is done in mines in particular, it is therefore obvious that with correspondingly intensive and strong breathing, the concentration of carbon monoxide in the blood of the miners was quickly reached, which led to the aforementioned helplessness.