Four of them appeared in the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' except they didn't really. Although 'Calling Birds' is to be seen most commonly now, originally they were 'Colly Birds'. "What," you might well ask, "is a 'colly' bird?" Well, it's a blackbird. Colly is an old word derived from coal, specifically refering to the dust.

So now you know.

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