Canary bird

The canary as a companion has deep roots in the American psyche, perhaps due to its contribution as a noxious gas detector in the coal mines of the 1800s and early 1900s or its use as the model for the feisty yellow cartoon character, Tweety Bird. Whatever the case, the canary has been a favorite among bird keepers for hundreds of years, and has been bred into more than 200 breeds, much like dogs have, each breed prized for a particular skill or appearance.

But for all its popularity over the centuries, the canary seems to have been pushed aside by the parrot, a relatively new companion animal to the average home. The parrot is known as a hands-on bird; the canary isn’t. Perhaps this is why some canary enthusiasts call them the “forgotten bird.”