Black-headed canary

 
Black-headed canary
The black-headed canary (Serinus alario) is a species of finch found in Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. It is sometimes placed in genus Alario as Alario alario
Its habitat is dry open scrub and grassland, edges of cultivation and suburban gardens.
 
Description
The black-headed canary is 12–15 cm in length. The adult male has rich brown upperparts and tail, a white hind collar, and mainly white underparts. The head and central breast are solidly black.

The adult female is similar, but has a dull grey head, and is dark-streaked on the head and upperparts. It has a rich brown wing bar. The juvenile resembles the female, but is paler, has streaking on the breast, and a weaker wing bar.

The Damara canary, Serinus leucolaema, is often considered to be a subspecies of black-headed canary. The male of that form has a strikingly different head pattern, with a white supercilium, and a white throat and fore neck with a black moustachial stripe. The black of the central breast is therefore separate from the black of the head.

Phylogeny
This species is phylogeneticagy included within the group of Serinus syriacus now thriving around the Mt Lebanon and other Asian and African patches in winter, together with Serinus canicollis (African distribution) and Serinus pusillus (Asian distribution) Arnaiz-Villena et al, 1999
 
Behaviour
The Damara canary is a common and gregarious seedeater, forming flocks of up to 200 birds. Its call is a low tseett, and the male's song is jumble of unmusical notes.