32 Bird-Lore
ibirbdlnre
A Bi-monthly Magazine Devoted to the Study and Prote n oi Birds uncut I‘RGAN or run At'nvltlfl societies Edited by FRANK Mt CHAPMAN Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Vol. VI Published February l, unit No.
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Bud-Lore‘s Motto A Bird in the Bush l.l‘ u ml. 731/0 in Ute Hand
A Question oi the Day
l\TERh r in animals is now popularly aroused hr emphasizing our inship with the lower forms of life. and the man~ ifestations of instinct and of lltlman intelligence often so (msely resemble one another that it requires an elion on the part of the sympathetic butconscientious student to avoid using his own mind as a
animal
standard when attempting to interpret the meaning of an animal’s actions.
In an incre g number of magazine ar- and so-calletl 'nature' books. the etiort to resist the temptation to write of animals as though they were endowed with the mind of man entire has clearlv not been made. and tlle restllt is a rapid - growing mass of natural-history tiction presented in the guise of fact
While the u ters of this class no doubt awaken much interest in animal life, it is not a healthy interest. and llnwarranlcd aslumptions. Lacking the special training without which eten the best observers are not justified in drawing conclusio these writers enter the ditlicult tield of comparative psychology and in almost every paragraph l'onfitlenlly put forward. as uncontrovertible facts. state- ments about the habits of animals for
ticles
lt is based on talse premises
which there is absolutely no psychological foundation.
Throughout the world of science today. trained minds are patiently and skilfully studying the animal mind. Thousands of minttte exhaustive experiments are being made. Conclusions are drawn with the utmost caution and are presented to the world tentatively for criticism and as repre- senting only a stage in our investigations of the development of mind in animals
Compare the careful studies and con— servative statements of those fully equipped investigators with the crude observations. vague memories and unsubstantiated anec- dotes ol the various campers, hermits. pad- dlers N a! who are now posing as author. ities on the habits of our birds and animals and the nature of their mental attributes. As a matter of fact, these pseudo»scientists are about as well prepared to discuss the problems of comparative psychology as the average kodalter is to explain the chemistry and optics of photography.
Front the scientist‘s point of view. the greatest harm wrought by this unnatural history is not only the wholly wrong ime pressioll it conveys or our exact knowledge of the animal mind. but the consequently misguided eliorrs of students who have op- portunity to make observations which might be of great value. Accepting as true the humanizarion of the animal. they study its actions as they would those of a fellow—man, and unconsciously attribute to them a significance they are not inane» to possess.
The ience of comparative psychology is as vet in its infancy. It has need of the ser ces of every competent observert Par~ ticularly in our study of the life»histortes of birds do we need an immense amount of data before we may hope to penetrate the workings of the bird—mind. and say with some approach or confidence. “This is in- stinct.“ or "This is intelligence." Do not. therefore let tls rush ahead. led astray by imaginative even if honest writers. but let us be sure of one foothold before we make the next step
The mu story of the activities of the animal mind will be found to he marvel- qus enough when once we know it.
