334 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



performed a similar feat. In each place of adventure a new 

 species received the name "Robin Redbreast." It is not sur- 

 prising to find that this idea of Robin Redbreast permeates the 

 minds of American folks with an impelling force. It has a tra- 

 ditional partisanship with the English race ; an endurance of three 

 centuries on a new continent. 



How do students of today answer the question, — what is the 

 color of the Robin's breast? 42% say red; 17%, reddish brown; 

 15%, orange red; and only four out of 281 mentioned that there 

 is a difference between the male and female. Other colors 

 mentioned were orange, grey, pink, crimson, scarlet, yellow 

 magenta, maroon, brick red, rustic red, and chestnut. The results 

 show as much versatility as one could desire from a student career 

 of nursery and rhythmic feeding. 



The next step consisted of placing a male robin (The male is 

 brighter colored) in a paper bag and cutting a small hole to show a 

 small area of the breast. Eighteen graduates of various high 

 schools were asked to write the name of the color. The answers 

 were as follows: brown, 8; yellow brown, 4; grey brown, 2; 

 red brown, 2; golden brown, 1; orange, 1. When observing the 

 Robin's breast without the blinders of nursery rhyme no one 

 called it red. The concealment of the Robin in the bag was un- 

 necessary as no one recognized it when it was removed. When 

 the group were told that it was a Robin one immediately said: 

 "But the Robin has a red breast?" This little episode is typical. 

 From time immemorial — today as of yore — we are led to view facts 

 through the rims and spokes of tradition and hearsay. 



Sentimentally none of us would abolish the phrase "Robin Red- 

 breast." It has a home-spun attractiveness. Educationally, 

 however it is important to know that red is red. We must see, 

 not through the smoked glasses of nursery rhymes, but with a 

 clear vision. Not that we will appreciate folk lore and Robins 

 less but Robin Redbreast more. 



That Robin Redbreast does not have a redbreast is represen- 

 tative of a group of contradictions in the language of natural 

 history. The wing of the Red-winged Blackbird is not red; 

 the shell of the Soft-shelled Clam is not soft; the Black Mussel 

 is blue; the Starfish is not a fish; the Potato Bug is not a bug; 

 Nuthatches do not hatch nuts; Flying Squirrels cannot fly; 



