This is the European robin (Erithacus rubecula). The American robin is actually a thrush (Turdus migratorius). I suppose the colonists gave the name to another red-breasted bird because it reminded them that not everything they’d left behind was bad.
Of all our garden birds, the robin is probably the best loved. A sight of a redbreast is particularly welcome in winter when cold, grey skies and drizzle make gardening more of a chore than it is in summer. They will come and sit on a convenient local perch and look as if they are taking an intelligent interest in your activities.
Of course they are doing just that, though the prospect of your exposing some hapless insect is more likely to be their motive than a desire to offer constructive criticism of your digging technique. But they look so cheerful in their smart red waistcoats that the gardener’s heart is lifted anyway.
If you can tell male robins from females, you're doing better than I can. When I see aggressive territorial behaviour from these birds I'm never sure whether the victim is a rival male. I assume the robins themselves can tell the difference. I’d always assumed they were as cheerful as they looked, and I suppose they may well be, but not when defending their territory- that’s a serious business.
From the point of view of a photographer, robins are a great help. Not only are they usually ready and willing to adopt and hold a good Christmas-card pose, they also have a good colour contrast between the eye and its surrounding feathers, making it much easier to focus and more likely that you will catch the reflected light in the eye that makes a bird photograph come alive. You can see a glint in the eye of both the above subjects.
For comparison, I find it very hard to take a good photograph of a crow, though the blackbird (another thrush in disguise - Turdus merula) helps me out by always wearing yellow eyeliner.
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