Song Canary Breeds:
American SingerThe American Singer (A.S.) was developed in the U.S. by eight women in the Boston area in the 1930s. The "blueprint" for breeding the A.S. with a 2/3 Roller canary bloodline and 1/3 Border canary (a type canary) bloodline was officially adopted in 1942. If you were to start with one Roller and one Border, it would take 5 years (generations) to create your own A.S.
The A.S. has been a popular bird. It was developed to have a lot of variety in its song and be pleasant to hear. The A.S. can be any color, including orange, but they must not be color-fed. They can be variegated (dark patches).
The A.S. may sing some of the Roller songs or even Waterslagger notes but overall it should sing a variety of songs.
Note: A lot of people will purchase a canary from a pet store and will be told that it is an American Singer. Unless the bird is closed-banded as an American Singer by a registered breeder, it is NOT an American Singer. The common term for a non-banded canary is a Kitchen Canary. This does not mean that the canary is not a wonderful bird or a great pet! It just means that it is not legally an American Singer. This goes for all breeds of birds. If you are looking for a bird as a pet and are not concerned with the breed, then this should not bother you. What is of concern, however, is that people - especially pet-store owners and their sales-people - are educated.
German RollerThis is an old breed of canary specifically developed for its song. The Rollers originated in the Hartz Mountains of Germany, particularly in St. Andreasburg. In the 17-1800s, many working-class families raised and trained singing canaries to supplement their incomes. By the mid-1800s, canaries were making their way to the U.S. regularly. Between 1905 and 1915, over 3 million Rollers were brought from Germany to the U.S. dispersed by German dealers in New York.
The Roller sings softly with its beak closed. Its throat feathers rise as it sings and can span as many as three octaves. They grow to 5 1/2 inches in length and their colors vary from yellow, white, green or gray to variegated. Occasionally Rollers are red-orange.
Young Rollers utter their first few notes at about 6 weeks old. It takes them up to 18 months to develop complex song, which should be sung in a rolling fashion. Roller canaries are bred to mimic songs well, and good breeders realize that the lineage of both the mother and the father play a part in how talented a songster each chick will become.
Spanish TimbradoTimbrados descend from Spanish birds that were bred with local songbirds. They have a loud, high-pitched song and can produce some clear, metallic tones and a chattering sound like castanets. Timbrados are green, yellow, white or cinnamon birds and are often variegated. They may have dark marks on their bodies.
The Waterslagger is a song canary that originates in Belgium and has a soft to medium-loud song. They are usually light yellow with some dark marks (ticks) and can sing the Roller tours along with bubbling water notes of their own. Occasionally a Waterslagger can open its beak in competitions to make louder notes, unlike the Roller which would lose points. They are a popular breed of canary in Europe and are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. True Waterslaggers can imitate the sound of a slow, babbling brook and can speed up the song so that the water is "boiling."
Gloster CanaryThe Gloster Corona (or crested) canary has a "hairstyle" reminiscent of the Beatles. Ideally, Glosters have a circular cap
of feathers and quite often the cap is dark on a light bird. Some Glosters do not have the cap and are known as Gloster Consorts.
Breeders pair crested birds with non-crested birds because breeding two crested birds can be deadly to potential chicks. Glosters were first created with a Mrs. Rogerson of Gloucestershire County crossed Rollers, Borders and crested canaries. They were first recognized in 1920. They are preferably no larger than 4 1/2 inches long. They are stocky birds who are cute and sing freely.
Norwich CanaryThe Norwich canary is relatively large and heavy, sometimes reaching 6-6 1/2 inches long. Probably originally bred for their clear orange-yellow color, they have an impressive forehead, a thick neck and is full in the cheeks, chest and across the back. The orangish hue written about in historical records may have come from color-feeding the birds cayenne pepper before and during molting.
Fife CanaryThe Fife is a miniature Border canary and cannot exceed 4 1/2 inches long. It's seen in several colors: yellow, white cinnamon, silver fawn, blue, green, yellow and variegated. Many Fifes are variegated. This is a fairly recent canary breed that became popular in the U.S. in the early 1980s.
Gibber ItalicusTechnically one of the Frilled Canaries, the Gibber is a lanky, thin canary with hunched shoulders and featherless thighs. It has large eyes surrounded by naked areas and a flat skull. The Gibber is thinly feathered, but those it does have are usually deep yellow. This breed may be up to 6 inches long, was developed in central and northern Italy and was officially recognized as a breed in 1951.
The Black-Hooded Red SiskinThis is a Venezuelan finch in which the male in a brilliant scarlet red with a black head and black wing markings. The female is more subtly shaded. In our modern canaries, the Black-hooded Red Siskin heritage is apparent in rich red hues, but the Red Siskin is not often still bred with canaries. In its native country of Venezuela, it has always been a popular cage bird, though it has not been widely bred in captivity. This has become a cause for concern. There are only a handful of Red Siskins left in the wild. When it was found that introducing the Red Siskin bloodlines into the canary gene pool produced brilliant red and orange hues of Red Factor canaries, extensive trapping and exportation occurred, seriously depleting the wild population. Many of the Red Siskins in captivity have been genetically intermingled with canaries, but Red Siskin enthusiasts have been trying to sort these captive Siskins out and once again breed them, possibly reintroducing them to their native habitats in the future.
