This and That: A Blog

 We round out the alphabet this week with X , Y , and Z  for Sunday Stamps .  My alphabetical stamps have been animals, and for X I am grateful for scientific names! X iphias gladius , Swordfish Solomon Islands 1998   X ylocopa caerulea, Carpenter Bee   Singapore 1985 Y is a trio of Y ellow-Bellies.  Y ellow-Bellied Glider Australia 1997 Y ellow-Bellied Sunbird Australia 2003   Y ellow-Bellied Trogon Belize 1978 Last, but not least, Z .  Z ebu  Madagascar 1930 Z okor When Mongolia issued this stamp the official postal description used a generic fur-bearing rodent term that Western editors interpreted as "muskrat," as z okors were unknown outside the scientific community. Once one major catalog printed "muskrat" the others followed suit. Catalogs almost never revisit mid-century wildlife identification, so "muskrat" it remains.  However, it isn't, it's a z okor!  Mongolia, 1959  That ends this round of A to Z stamps....

Sunday Stamps : N  N uthatch Bulgaria 1987 N udibranch Singapore 1994 N for  N utria N icaragua 1981 First anniversary of the N ational Literacy Crusade.  (I would love  an entire A to Z set, but there isn't one.  They only issued seven stamps in this series.) N ext is O for... let's find out next week! 

  Sunday Stamps : Letter G  G iant Land Snail New Zealand 1997 They can be up to 12" long and 2 pounds!  Naturally, at that size they can destroy a garden in a short time. G oldfish, a Japanese breed, the Tosakin  Singapore 2021 G azelle The French Somali Coast (now Djibouti) 1958 H is up next.

The theme for Sunday Stamps continues with K stamps. K ing Arthur Grenada 1972 Issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF).  Apparently K ing Arthur represents protection of the vulnerable, especially children.   K angaroo, Grizzled Tree Papua New Guinea 1952 K ingfisher Singapore 1963 Following K is the letter L , so that's next week's theme.