Live and learn (5)
Image source
Nankeen originally referred to a firmly-woven, hard-wearing material, yellowish-brown in colour, produced in Nanking, (now Nanjing) China. Nankeen is a corruption of the name Nanking. Later, material was dyed yellow to resemble Nankeen.
The material was used in the 19th century to produce working trousers, often known by the wonderful name, ‘Nankeen inexpressibles.’
.jpg)
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
The Nankeen night heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) is reddish-brown in colour, and so is also known as the rufous night heron. It is native to Australia, and found in many other parts of Australasia. It is almost entirely nocturnal, emerging after sunset to feed on crabs, crayfish, frogs, lizards, and a variety of insects including crickets, caterpillars and ants.
.jpg)
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Another rufous Nankeen bird, and native to New Guinea and Australia, is the Nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides) Though it is a falcon, it does not pursue its prey, although it often hovers over areas which might provide good hunting. One of its common names is the Mosquito hawk! Generally, it perches in full sight, scanning the ground for prey, mostly in the form of small rodents, and reptiles.
Little boys in Georgette Heyer novels wear nankeens. Hard wearing I think.
ReplyDeleteThat little hawk is eating that huge lizard! Wow!
ReplyDeleteI've heard the term nankeen, but didn't know it's history. Thank you for that fun lesson.
This was interesting, I did not know we had those birds here. I imagine the nankeen trousers were tough enough to be worn when riding horses etc and for climbing trees and rocks as boys seem to like to do, though you don't see much of that these days with all the screens available instead.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the trousers are a Chinese forerunner to denim jeans.
ReplyDeleteWe have the American Kestrel which I think is one of the prettiest of our hawks. It feeds mostly on insects.
ReplyDeleteAnother new word in my (little) dictionary.
ReplyDelete