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One of the oldest breeds of canary, the Waterslager Canary is also known as the Belgian Waterslager Song Canary, Waterslager Song Canary, Malinois Canary, and Water Singer.
Originating in Belgium, one of the earliest accounts of this breed were included in a French travelogue in 1713 where the author describes observing this canary while stopping at the town of Malinois, Belgium. It has been most popular throughout its history in Europe, and is growing in popularity in the United States and Canada.
The Waterslager Canary is bred for its song rather than its physical appearance or color, but it is a fair sized bird reaching lengths of about 6 1/2 inches (16.5 cm). It has some distinctive traits to its head such as a larger more cone shaped beak and a sharper bite than other canaries, shiny bright black eyes, and when excited the feathers on the back of the head rise up giving it a bit of a crest. This canary has soft feathers and their colors are yellow and white, though in varying shades from pale to quite strong. Dark ticking is common and is usually accepted for show as long as it does not cover over a quarter of its plumage.
The wonderful song of the Waterslager Canary is distinct and melodic. Like the Roller Canary it will mostly sing with its beak closed, but will also open it for pronounced sounds. Its song can be described as having the sounds of ‘water’ as well as the sounds of a nightingale. The water sounds are a mimicking of water flowing, water dripping into a pool, or a babbling brook. The Waterslager must make these “water notes” or he will not be accepted as a true Waterslager. They also have the lowest and highest range of notes for all song canaries.