<Li> The 1780 version has "four colly birds"--colly being a regional English expression for "black" (the name of the collie dog breed may come from this word). This wording must have been opaque to many even in the 19th century: "canary birds", "colour'd birds", "curley birds", and "corley birds" are found in its place . Frederic Austin's 1909 version, which introduced the now - standard melody, also altered the fourth day's gift to four "calling" birds, and this variant has become the most popular, although "colly" is still found . </Li> <Li> The "five gold rings" may become "five golden rings", especially in North America . In the standard melody, this change enables singers to fit one syllable per musical note . </Li> <Li> The gifts associated with the final four days are often reordered . For example, the pipers may be on the ninth day rather than the eleventh . </Li> <P> For ease of comparison with Austin's 1909 version given above: (a) differences in wording, ignoring capitalisation and punctuation, are indicated in italics; (b) items that do not appear at all in Austin's version are indicated in bold italics . </P>

How many birds are there in 12 days of christmas