Domesticated canaries originated from wild birds imported from the Canary Islands. It should be noted, that the birds were named after the islands from which they came and not vice versa.

Most breeds as we know them, began to emerge from the early 1800s onwards. The wild canary is almost identical in appearance to any common crossbred, Self Green, domestic canary; that is to say, 12.5cm (5 inches in length), greyish green on the back, yellowish green underparts and streaked with black on both back and flanks.