Ruby Reid, age 11, of Vancouver, C., for her question:

How were the Canary Islands named?

The Canary Islands form a lovely archipelago in the warm mid‑Atlantic. We know that they were visited around 40 B.C. by bold mariners from the Mediterranean. An account of this voyage was retold by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder. Pliny called the archipelago Canaria, from the Latin word cams, which wonns dog. Fir the early explorers found the islands overrun with wild dogs.

Later, certain cheerful little singing birds ware noticed. They were exported in large numbers and., because they came from the Canary Islands, were called canaries. The islands wore named for the dogs, and the birds wore named for the islands.

The beauty of the islands was also noticed and other early explorers called them the Fortunate Isles nnc the Isles of the Blest. Finally, however, Pliny's name for them won out, and they became known as the Cunarics ‑ the doggy islands.