Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) - Finches and canaries were used in the UK, Canada and USA in the coal mining industry, to detect carbon monoxide from the eighteenth to twentieth century.
The canary resuscitator | Museum of Science and Industry
National Coal Mining Museum on Twitter: "@YorkshireMuseum Our #BestBird has to be a canary! They were used underground to detect carbon monoxide and were sometimes poisoned as a result. Enter, the canary