American Robin (and a digression on Aristotle)

The robin is of course a common bird in backyard feeders, and their presence in the mid-Atlantic is year-round. In winter, they can often, like this little guy, be found in trees with berries. Easily identified by the black stripes on its white throat and brick-red breast.

One of the common stories you’ll see in bird books is that Aristotle conjectured that the American robin’s cousin, the European robin, was transformed into the redstart in the summer, and vice-versa in the winter; these books will claim that Aristotle and the ancient Greeks were unaware of migration, and instead thought these two species were the same. The relevant passages from Aristotle’s “Τῶν περὶ τὰ ζῷα ἱστοριῶν” (“Inquiries on Animals”) can be found in Book 9: Μεταβάλλουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐρίθακοι καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι φοινίκουροι ἐξ ἀλλήλων· ἔστι δ' ὁ μὲν ἐρίθακος χειμερινόν, οἱ δὲ φοινίκουροι θερινοί, διαφέρουσι δ' ἀλλήλων οὐδὲν ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀλλ' ἢ τῇ χρόᾳ μόνον. This sentence can be translated something like this: “The ‘erithakos’ and the so-called ‘phoinikouros’ change into each other; while the ‘erithako’ is a winter bird, the ‘phoinikouro’ is a summer bird, and they differ from each other solely how they are colored.”

While it’s possible Aristotle did believe different species literally transmuted into each other somehow, it is often very difficult to determine which real-world species Aristotle was referring to whenever he named a species in his writings. It was not until the Renaissance when the English naturalist William Turner attempted to match Aristotle’s Greek names with identifiable species. He matched erithako with the European Robin and the phoinikouro with the redstart, based on extrapolations from Pliny and the birds’ Latin names. Thus, it’s unclear whether Aristotle was referring to two molts of the same species or two distinct species. Evidence that he may may not believe in the transmutation of species can be found earlier in the “Iquiries.” Earlier, when discussing the “transformation” of the cuckoo into a “goshawk” in Book 6, Chapter 7, Aristotle begins his discussion with “λέγεται,” i.e. “It is said,” which is usually how Aristotle reports commonly-held beliefs.

We’ll never know for sure, but the truth of the matter lies in that grey, impenetrable fog that separates us from Aristotle’s time and English from Attic Greek.