When I show you these pictures, many people say, “It’s a beautiful plum and a warbler.” However, this bird is not a warbler, but a white-eye. The warbler has a beautiful cry, but the color is brown, which is close to brown, and it is not a noticeable color. In the first place, the Japanese bush warbler does not come to the prominent flowers such as plum blossoms, and sings in invisible places such as bushes and bamboo grove. The idiom “Uguisu to Ume” is a symbolic word that is representative of spring and is simply a combination of plums with colors and scents and Uguisu with a beautiful cry. There are many such idioms such as “pine and crane” and “autumn leaves and deer”. Even so, most of the things that have a young green color, such as the warbler rice cake and the warbler bun, have “warbler” attached.

こういう写真をお見せすると、多くの人が「綺麗な梅と鶯ですね。」とおっしゃいます。しかしこの鳥はウグイスではなく、メジロです。ウグイスは鳴き声は綺麗ですが、色は褐色に近い茶色で目立つような色ではありません。そもそも鶯は梅のような目立つ花にはやって来ず、薮や竹林のような人目には付かない所で囀っています。「梅に鶯」という常套句は、春を代表する、色と香りの梅と美しい鳴き声の鶯を組み合わせただけの象徴的な言葉なわけです。「松に鶴」、「紅葉に鹿」のようにこうした常套句は沢山あります。それにしても、鶯餅とか鶯饅頭とか、若緑色をした物には大概「鶯」が付いていますね。