Fishing for any hue other than orange
Corythornis madagascariensis photo © Frank Vassen
The Madagascar pygmy kingfisher and many other species of kingfishers are orange-coloured in parts of their plumage, their parts, or both. However, no species has ‘orange’ in its vernacular name. By contrast, at least one species is called the ‘red-backed kingfisher’ despite no species of kingfisher featuring red in its plumage. Kingfishers thus exemplify an irrational bias against calling birds and mammals orange.
Robin and the Honey Badger, 8 January 2017