Birds of Christmas - Ornithology
Now that it is almost Christmas, you will hear the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” created in about 16th century England. This song has more birds in it than any other holiday song. You know, “On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree.” The second day involves “two turtle doves”, then come three “French Hens” (probably just regular chickens), and then four “calling birds.” Actually, the song originally referred to “colly birds”, colly meaning ‘black as coal’ and probably originally referred to blackbirds baked in a pie. Then on the fifth day come “five golden rings”, which actually refer to the Ring-necked Pheasant. On the sixth day arrive “Six geese-a-laying” most likely referring to the Graylag Goose, the ancestor of our domestic geese and the “Seven Swans-a-swimming” to the Mute Swan. At the end of the song, if you do the math, there will be 12 partridges, 22 doves, 30 hens, 36 blackbirds, 40 pheasants, 42 geese, and 42 swans; or something like that.
