Two blackbirds were there, sitting a little way apart on the bare ground; these were silent, the raggedest, rustiest-looking members of that little company; for they were moulting, and their drooping wings and tails had many unsightly gaps in them where the old feathers had dropped out before the new ones had grown.
"Afoot in England"
W.H. Hudson
I'm dumb as Miss Jessie's canary in moulting-time."
"Wives and Widows; or The Broken Life"
Ann S. Stephens
Our steward is a funny little man, very small and thin, with pale yellow hair; he reminds me of a moulting canary, and his voice cheeps and is rather canary-like too.
"Olivia in India"
O. Douglas