Canary

A canary

A canary is a small yellow bird in the finch family. Like mockingjays, they are songbirds.

History

According to Katniss Everdeen and Beetee Latier, coal miners in District 12 brought canaries down into the mines to warn them of bad air. The canary would stop singing, alerting them of danger so they could get out. However, if the air was too bad, the bird would die, and the miners would, too.

District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner once had a pet canary. After she died in the 50th Hunger Games, her parents gave the songbird to Maysilee's friend, Mrs. Everdeen. It is unknown if this pet canary was Lou Lou, or if Maysilee had multiple canaries.

Trivia

• During the 75th Hunger Games, Beetee compared his district partner Wiress to a canary for her intuition. Soon after, Wiress stopped singing right before Career Tributes attacked the rebel alliance, just like a canary in a mine would.
• Canaries were also used to detect bad air in real mines. They were sometimes replaced by other birds like pigeons, sparrows, etc.
• On the tribute train before the 50th Hunger Games, Maysilee Donner insulted Drusilla Sickle's outfit by saying she looked "like someone mated a Peacekeeper and a canary."

External links

• Canary on Wikipedia