38. Ruppell’s Robin-Chat In an earlier age, when I was a boy, these Robin-Chats were known just as ‘robins’: it’s their presence and behaviour in suburban gardens, I suppose, that reminded immigrants of the red-red robins that go bob-bob-bobbing along on Christmas cards. They do bob-bob when they hop about the lawn looking for worms, usually in the morning and late afternoon. But they’re much bigger than the European robin; their breasts and bellies are a beautiful burnt orange and they are much more shy, lurking darkly deep in bushes, visible sometimes only by the bright white eyebrow which seems to glow. Also they have beautiful singing voices and interesting repertoires of songs. It is one of the nicest songs in our gardens. The songs are so different you have to learn to recognise the timbre (is that the right word?) rather than the tune. I suspect that different communities of birds develop different songs, or perhaps individuals prefer different tunes. This Ruppell’s sings slightly less prettily, I think, than the White-browed I am used to at home. Like a lot of birdsong, it’s mainly about territory: “Attention, attention”, it is saying: “I am here and this is my territory! Keep out!” Birds of AFRICAMA House 80 Birds of AFRICAMA House 81