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Thursday 20 April 2017

Robin Redbreast: a rant.

I recently got a catalogue from a firm called Orvis which features a three-quarter sleeve T shirt in a choice of colours: deep coral, lapis, white, heathered lavender, orange blossom, and robin.

So: what colour do you think the robin T shirt was?

File:Thomas Bresson - Rouge-gorge-5 (by).jpg
European robin, photo by Thomas Bresson



File:American robin.jpg
American robin, photo by Sujit kumar

File:Luscinia brunnea.jpg
Indian robin

File:Siberian Blue Robin - S4E7383 (19175819080).jpg
Siberian robin, photo by Francesco Verones

File:Cinclidium leucurum male - Ang Khang.jpg
Thai robin, photo by JJ Harrison 

Yep...

...bright turquoise.

I'm still trying to work that one out.

Word To Use Today: robin. This word came into being in the 1500s when someone suddenly decided that the bird looked like a Robin (as in the man's name, eg Robin Hood). 

As far as I can see we could just as easily have been calling them Egberts.



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