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.
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