Harz Roller
Encyclopedia
Harz Roller is the name of a breed
Breed
A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...

 of domestic canary
Domestic Canary
The Domestic Canary, often simply known as the canary, is a domesticated form of the wild Canary, a small songbird in the finch family originating from the Macaronesian Islands ....

 bred in the Upper Harz
Upper Harz
The Upper Harz refers to the western and higher part of the Harz mountain range in central Germany. Much of the Upper Harz is over , but at its eastern edge in the High Harz it climbs to over on the Brocken massif.- Geography :...

 mountains of Germany. The birds were bred in the Upper Harz between Lautenthal
Lautenthal
The formerly free mining town of Lautenthal is a state-recognised, climatic spa with around 2,000 inhabitants that has been part of the borough of Langelsheim since 1972.- Geography :...

 and Sankt Andreasberg
Sankt Andreasberg
Sankt Andreasberg is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Braunlage. It is situated in the Harz, approximately 7 km west of Braunlage proper, and 20 km east of Osterode am Harz.- History :Sankt...

in the middle of the 19th century and achieved European-wide fame. Since 2001 there has been a Harz Roller Museum in Sankt Andreasberg.

By patient breeding a breed of canary was able to be produced that had a very pleasant, melodious song, full of variety and delivered with an apparently closed beak.

Birds as an alarm system in mines

The breeding and sale of this popular breed of canary was an important secondary occupation for the mining folk as was the making of cages for the birds. Especially in the second half of the 19th century the business for these canaries boomed. In contrast to widespread legend, the birds were not used in the mines to indicate the presence of oxygen, they were too valuable for that. The Harz miners used captured wild birds for that purpose.

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