enjoying an international following. The terms canariculture and canaricultura have been used in French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian respectively, to describe the keeping and breeding of canaries for some time. English speaking canary breeders are beginning to use the term more commonly. Psittaculture The word comes from the psittacinae (Latin psittacinus, for parrot, from Greek psittakos). Psittaculture is a word that has been used in the aviculture community since the early 1970s, to denote people who specialize in keeping, breeding and conserving psittacines species, also on preserving psittacines habitat and public awareness campaigns to save wild parrots. It is one branch of the science of aviculture. A "psittaculturist" (parrot breeder) is a person who specializes in keeping, breeding and conserving psittacines species, also on preserving psittacines habitat and public awareness campaigns of the threats to the ongoing existence of parrots worldwide. As with aviculture in the sub-branch of psittaculture, there are four levels of psittaculture: The specialist pet owner whom keep only parrots as pets, will have dozens of pet parrots. The specialist backyard hobbyist who keeps a modest collection of only parrots, breeds them on a very small scale. The specialist hobby farm breeder whose collection has grown so large, needs to shift out to rural farms. The farm breeder is still considered a hobbyist. The specialist professional parrot farmer derives his/her main income from the breeding, by selling only parrots. See also American Federation of Aviculture Companion parrot References External links Avicultural Society of Australia American Federation of Aviculture Aviculture Association of India Bird conservation