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THE BELGIAN WATERSLAGER OR MALINOIS As early as 1713 the area around the city of Malines or Mechelen in Belgium was known for its special canaries. These birds sang with a watery voice. Over time the birds were selected for their wet voices and the type was probably refined by the inclusion of the blood of the Great Yellow canary, sometimes called the Old Dutch canary, found in that part of Europe. Many generations of these birds were trained to sing by the nightingales that the Flemish and Dutch breeders used for this purpose. The classically voiced waterslager has strong elements of water in his song which he sings with a distinctive nightingale accent. It has been said that the very first associations for the competitive showing of canaries were founded in Belgium in the 1800’s and that waterslager breeders hotly debated the merits of their singing birds over clay pipes and glasses of local beer in the back rooms of the nearest pub. Eventually, such shows were formalized, and panels of three judges gave each bird marks for how well he sang the various standard tours or phrases. The word waterslag literally means “water beat” and describes the unique musical quality of this breed’s song. The musical beats of many of the bird’s tours have a definite watery echo to them, while other tours can directly imitate the sounds of water drops, bubbling water, rolling water, and sometimes even splashes and gurgles. At the other end of the wide-ranging voice of this bird can be found the steel notes which sound like one hollow pipe being struck with another. Between these two extremes, one can hear the various flutes, bells, and nightingale tours.
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