It has never interested me much to learn the names of different birds, because, of course, you are not really learning their names at all, just names we call them. When a person tells you their name, they are telling you what they want to be called, but a goose or a sparrow, for instance, would likely be confused if they learned we were calling them these things. “Red-breasted robin?" a red-breasted robin might repeat in astonishment. “That’s not my name. And why are you focusing on my breast? That’s inappropriate.”
