Songbird signet
rings (2): all depicted
birds are different but clearly passerines with relatively long tails and some also have a rather heavy build for a songbird. The branches and some of the beaks indicate that the main idea is that they are songbirds - and for the
Romans that signified the bountiful nature, on the top of just looking nice. The branch also disqualifies some relatively long-tailed
birds such as the swallows. Therefore, I would focus on
good singers and that
still leaves a wide variety of candidates. As the
rings are quite different, I might suggest different species for each depicted individual bird, but I guess you are not asking for a such list of species. In other words, I am not aware that any single bird species symbolised or
had the monopoly for the idea of "songbird" for
Romans and would, therefore, be represented in so many different forms in these
rings. Anyway, I would be glad to hear other interpretations/ points of view or correction if I am mistaken.
