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. Canaries were first bred in captivity in the 17th century.

The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and often have colourful plumage.

A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species.