While Terry is off exploring the world of monochrome, let's slip in a thread about purple. This was the colour worn by Roman and Byzantine emperors. It was the Phoenecians, in around the 15th-century BC, that discovered that a tiny sea snail produced a purple dye. Tyrian purple became the colour of kings, nobles, priests and magistrates all around the Mediterranean. The Byzantine emperor Justinian, suitably purple-clad: And even modern day royalty get in on the act:
From a distance, the common starling looks unremarkable. Like most starlings, however, it is a mimic and something of a disguise artist. With iridescent plumage, starlings can appear to change colour depending on where you view them from.
Here's an even flashier starling. I remember the first time I saw one in Eritrea. We really did say, "Wow!" It's a violet-backed starling.