Authors: Tim Birkhead

Bird Sense (34 page)

BOOK: Bird Sense

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24
. Piersma (
1998
).

25
. Parker (
1891
); see also Cunningham et al. (
2010
) and Martin et al. (
2007
).

26
. Buller (
1873
:
362
,
2
nd edition).

27
. These are: dunlin,
C. alpina
, western sandpiper,
C. mauri
, and least sandpiper,
C. minutilla
: Piersma et al. (
1998
).

28
. McCurrich (
1930
:
238
).

29
. Coiter (
1572
).

30
. Sir Thomas Browne (c.
1662
),
The Birds of Norfolk
– see Sayle (
1927
).

31
. Following Willughby and Ray (Ray,
1678
), a succession of anatomists and naturalists dissected woodpeckers, fascinated by their unusual tongue. These include: Jacobaeus (
1676
), Perrault (
1680
), Borelli (
1681
), Mery (
1709
),Waller (
1716
) – all cited in Cole (
1944
).

32
. Buffon (
1780
: vol.
7
).

33
. Villard and Cuisin (
2004
).

34
. Fitzpatrick et al. (
2005
); Hill (
2007
). The other evidence would be DNA from a moulted feather.

35
. Wilson (
1804
–
14
: vol.
2
).

36
. Audubon (
1831
–
9
).

37
. Audubon (
1831
–
9
).

38
. Martin Lister, cited in Ray (
1678
); Drent (
1975
).

39
. Lea and Klandorf (
2002
).

40
. Drent (
1975
); Jones (
2008
); and D. Jones, personal communcation.

41
. Alvarez del Toro (
1971
).

42
. Friedmann (
1955
); Claire Spottiswoode showed me honeyguide chicks killing bee-eater nestlings in her field site in Zambia.

43
. Jenner (
1788
); Davies (
2000
); White (
1789
).

44
. Davies (
1992
).

45
. Wilkinson and Birkhead (
1995
).

46
. Ekstrom et al. (
2007
).

47
. Burkhardt et al. (
2008
: vol.
16
(
1
):
199
).

48
. Lesson (
1831
); Sushkin (
1927
); Bentz (
1983
).

49
. Winterbottom et al. (
2001
).

50
. Komisaruk et al. (
2006
,
2008
).

51
. Edvardsson and Arnqvist (
2000
).

4. TASTE

1
. Darwin’s (
1871
) idea of sexual selection comprised two parts: male–male competition and female choice. Darwin thought female choice largely responsible for the differences in plumage brightness between males and female. In contrast, male–male competition was responsible for differences in body size and weaponry. Hingston (
1933
), however, thought that bright colours might serve an intimidatory role and hence have evolved through male–male competition. Baker and Parker (
1979
) consider this idea illogical.

2
. From the Darwin Correspondence – Burkhardt et al. (
2008
).

3
. Weir (
1869
,
1870
), see Burkhardt et al. (
2008
:
16
(
2
):
1175
) and Burkhardt et al. (
2009
:
17
:
115
–
16
); C. Wiklund, personal communication (
2009
); Järvi et al. (
1981
); Wiklund and Järvi (
1982
). There is another intriguing example of birds having a sense of taste: the Greek writer Thucydides provides an account of an unusual strain of bubonic plague that hit Athens around
400
bc
. Thucydides tells us that, in contrast to other plagues, carrion-eating birds avoided eating the unburied bodies, and when they did so they died. While hardly concrete evidence, it does suggest a sense of taste or smell and possibly a rapid learning ability (J. Mynott, personal communication).

4
. Newton (
1896
); del Hoyo et al. (
1992
: vol.
1
).

5
. Malpighi (
1665
); Bellini (
1665
); Witt et al. (
1994
).

6
. Rennie (
1835
).
Montagu (
1802
) was an ornithologist; Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (
1752
–
1840
) was an anthropologist and anatomist famous for his anatomical study of the duck-billed platypus. Blumenbach (
1805
– English translation,
1827
, p.
260
).

7
. Newton (
1896
): his view was probably shaped by Friedrich Merkel, the great German anatomist, who in
1880
stated categorically that birds were devoid of taste buds. This was very odd for taste buds were already known to occur in fishes, amphibia, reptiles and mammals. Frustratingly, Newton gives no references so it isn’t clear whether he had read Merkel, although it seems likely he knew of him.

8
. Moore and Elliot (
1946
).

9
. Berkhoudt (
1980
;
1985
) and H. Berkhoudt, personal communication.

10
. Botezat (
1904
); Bath (
1906
).

11
. Berkhoudt (
1985
).

12
. Brooker et al. (
2008
).

13
. Rensch and Neunzig (
1925
).

14
. Hainsworth and Wolf (
1976
); Mason and Clark (
2000
); van Heezik et al. (
1983
).

15
. Jordt and Julius (
2002
); Birkhead (
2003
).

16
. Kare and Mason (
1986
).

17
. Beehler (
1986
); Majnep and Bulmer (
1977
).

18
. J. Dumbacher, personal communication.

19
. J. Dumbacher, personal communication.

20
. Dumbacher et al. (
1993
). A video clip of Jack Dumbacher talking about his work is at
http://www.calacademy.org/science/heroes/jdumbacher/

21
. Audubon (
1831
–
9
).

22
. Escalante and Daly (
1994
) cite an account of the flora and fauna of the Aztec world (pre-Columbian Mexico) (dated
1540
–
85
) that mentions an inedible red bird that ‘seems to correspond to the red warbler
Ergaticus ruber
’. Escalante and Daly (
1994
) extracted alkaloids from the birds’ feathers.

23
. Cott (
1940
); see also Anon (
1987
).

24
. Cott (
1947
).

25
. Cott (
1945
).

26
. Cott picked out two people for particular praise: ‘Col. R. Meinertzhagen DSO and Mr B. Vesey-Fitzgerald . . . both of whom have furthered the inquiry with many original observations of the greatest interest and relevance.’ Oh dear! I wonder whether Cott may have been lead astray by these two. As later became clear, Meinertzhagen’s entire life was a lie; one recent biography describing him as a colossal fraud. He was a pathological attention-seeker, and everything Meinterzhagen did, said or wrote was designed to bolster his self-image (Garfield,
2007
). Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald was not entirely trustworthy either. Editor of the
Field
, and an extraordinarily prolific writer of natural history books, including the
1950
s Ladybird children’s books on birds, Vesey-Fitzgerald was exposed in
1949
as plagiarist by the eminent ornithologist the Reverend Peter H. T. Hartley (Hartley,
1947
). That Vesey-Fitzgerald was not held in high esteem by other ornithologists was clear when one described him to me as ‘a huntin’ shootin’ fishin’ gasbag’.