AUGURIUM CANARIUM. — One of the feriae conceptivae (moveable festivals) of Roman paganism. It was fixed from year to year by the pontiffs at a particular period in the grain’s ripening. In addition to this fact, the sacrifice of a dog at the Porta Catularia also documents the agrarian character of the festival, which, according to some authors, should be connected with the damage caused by the Dog Days.
BIBL.: G. Wissowa, Religion u. Kultus d. Römer, Munich 1912, p. 196 ff.; W. W. Fowler, The Roman Festivals, IV, London 1925, p. 90; L. Delatte, in Antiquité Classique, 6 (1937), p. 93 ff.