Book review: The Robin - A Biography, by Stephen Moss

Robins are the second most abundant birds in the UK after wrens, with roughly six million pairs, and at this time of the year they feel even more ubiquitous than usual, popping up on what must be at least one Christmas card out of every three. As Stephen Moss explains in this thoughtful mash-up of natural and cultural history, the birds first started finding their way on to cards in the 1840s. In this period postmen wore bright red uniforms and were nicknamed “Robins”, and some of the earliest designs for greetings cards showed postmen arriving to deliver the mail. “It was a short step,” writes Moss, “to swap the postman in his red uniform for an actual robin, which was often depicted holding the card in its beak.”