The canary bird comes from the Canary Islands, off the west coast of Northern Africa.

Sailors took the bird with the lovely song from the Canary Islands to Spain about 500 years ago. Making money by selling the little pets was probably the main reason why Spanish monks started breeding canaries. First they tried to sell only the singing males, holding back females for breeding. But after a while the Italians managed to get some female birds too. Since then the canary has spread all over Europe.

Especially the miners in Tyrol became experts in breeding canary birds.Travelling salesmen toured around Europe to sell the popular merchandise. When the Tyrol mines turned uneconomic, miners went north to the Hartz mountains, where a new mining industry started to grow. They took along their singing pets and made some extra income by breeding and selling them. Stronghold of breeding canaries was the town of St. Andreasberg.

This is where the common canary in the middle of the last century developed into the typical Hartz Roller Canary. The Harz Roller grew into the bird with the outstanding melodious song.