Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

“(…) When the red red robin comes 'bob 'bob 'bobbin' along!”  You guessed it! – a merle is the red-breasted robin or American robin, perhaps the earliest of our migratory birds: early to arrive in the late winter, they like our lawns, or perhaps the ease with which they may extract worms from them. 

The robin's back is dark grey, and its chest brick red.  The head and tail are blackish in the male, more greyish in the female.  Robins eat insects, worms, snails, small berries and fruits.  Its proper name is Turdus migratorius of the Passeriforme order.  While robins occasionally overwinter in the northern part of the United States and southern Canada, most migrate to winter south of Canada, from Florida and the Gulf coast to central Mexico, as well as along the Pacific Coast.  Most depart south by the end of August and begin to return north in February and March, depending on latitude and climate.^[1]