What's the bird in the movie "Secret Garden?"
Tina Hay @ Penn State
movie "The Secret Garden" and wondered what was the bird that figured so
prominently in the movie. The film was set in England and the characters
referred to the bird as a "robin," so I guess it could be the European robin
(I've never seen one, so I don't know). The bird seemed smaller than an
American robin, with a light orange neck and upper chest, a lighter
(whitish?) lower chest, and a grey back. It warbled like a warbler. I'm
just curious what it was. Thanks.
Daan Sandee
Sounds like a robin. The moviemakers must have got it right, for once.
Warbler-sized, dumpy, orange throat and chest, creamy belly, brownish back,
excellent singer : Erithacus rubecula, known in Britain (where the scene
is supposed to be set) as Robin, and in North America as European Robin.
From memory (a looooong time ago) the bird is also mentioned in the book.
It's not related to the American Robin, which is really a thrush, and was
called Robin by homesick colonists because of it orange breast.
Daan Sandee san...@think.com
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Anthony L. Lang
(European) Robin (Erithacus rubecula).
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===================================================================
Anthony Lang to...@zoo.utoronto.ca
Dept. of Zoology, University of Toronto to...@zoo.toronto.edu
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Anthony L. Lang
>In article <93234.09...@psuvm.psu.edu>, Tina Hay @ Penn State <TM...@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>|> Pardon me if this question has already been discussed, but I just saw the
>|> movie "The Secret Garden" and wondered what was the bird that figured so
>|> prominently in the movie. The film was set in England and the characters
>|> referred to the bird as a "robin," so I guess it could be the European robin
>|> (I've never seen one, so I don't know). The bird seemed smaller than an
>|> American robin, with a light orange neck and upper chest, a lighter
>|> (whitish?) lower chest, and a grey back. It warbled like a warbler. I'm
>|> just curious what it was. Thanks.
>
>Sounds like a robin. The moviemakers must have got it right, for once.
>Warbler-sized, dumpy, orange throat and chest, creamy belly, brownish back,
>excellent singer : Erithacus rubecula, known in Britain (where the scene
>is supposed to be set) as Robin, and in North America as European Robin.
>From memory (a looooong time ago) the bird is also mentioned in the book.
>It's not related to the American Robin, which is really a thrush, and was
Both species are thrushes in the general sense:
Family Muscicapidae, subfamily Turdinae.
By the way, I saw the ad on TV and it is E. rubecula.
Michael T. Palmer
>Sounds like a robin. The moviemakers must have got it right, for once.
>Warbler-sized, dumpy, orange throat and chest, creamy belly, brownish back,
>excellent singer : Erithacus rubecula, known in Britain (where the scene
>is supposed to be set) as Robin, and in North America as European Robin.
>From memory (a looooong time ago) the bird is also mentioned in the book.
>It's not related to the American Robin, which is really a thrush, and was
>called Robin by homesick colonists because of it orange breast.
Yes, the bird figures prominently in the book, since (I think) it is the
Robin that actually helps Mary Lennox find the garden in the first place.
I hope this means the movie is actually close to the (really very good)
book.
--Mike
Michael T. Palmer | "Freedom suppressed and then regained bites with
m.t.p...@larc.nasa.gov | keener fangs than freedom never endangered."
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