I take it you're referring to Robert, the longspur.

Gene.

On Tue, 12 Dec 1995, Kelly Cassidy wrote:

> Some have argued that catching and sexing the CC Longspur is a 'game'
> and would only be done to satisfy one's curiosity. You might as well
> argue that all of science is a game. Scientists make a profession of
> solving puzzles. If it's of no scientific value to learn the sex of
> this longspur, then it's of no value to know the sex of any longspur.
> Now, that does not mean I condone cruelty in the name of science. (We
> botanists normally have the freedom to handily sidestep that issue.)
> However, I would not consider netting a bird, doing measurements for
> five minutes, and releasing it, to be the height of cruelty. Nor, for
> that matter, would a quick death for a museum specimen be so awful.
> Few birds die of old age; few even have a greater than 20% survival in
> their first year.
>
> It seems to me that this issue has become an issue because this bird
> has become so personalized. As Bernt Heinrich (sp?) might phrase it,
> (see 'One Man's Owl'), this longspur has become more than the
> 'statistical' bird; it has become Tweeter's bird.
>
> Kelly Cassidy
> Wa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
> Univ of Washington,
> Seattle, WA 98195
>