>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 09:27:39 -0700 (PDT)
>From: "D. Victor" <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
>To: Dennis Paulson <dpaulson at ups.edu>
>Subject: The Minds of Birds (fwd)
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 08:55:34 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Harold Fuller <halfu at u.washington.edu>
>To: Dan Victor <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
>Subject: The Minds of Birds (fwd)
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 11:09:44 -0400
>From: Randy Franek <FRANEK at cc1.unt.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <dinosaur at lepomis.psych.upenn.edu>
>Subject: The Minds of Birds
>
>Because of the recent postings concerning birds, I thought the
>following from the Texas A & M University Press, Fall/Winter 1995
>Catalog, might be of interest:
>
>The Minds of Birds
>Alexander F. Skutch
>Illustrations by Dana Gardner
>
>"In this controversial culmination of a lifelong quest, Alexander F.
>Skutch, A well-known ornithologist who has studied birds for more
>than sixty years, makes a case for believing that birds' mental
>capacities have been grossly understimated.
>
>Lacking hard scientific proofs of what birds think and feel, we are
>left, Skutch argues, with inferences gleaned from observation of
>their behavior. His intimate, six-decade study of tropical and north
>temperate birds and his wide survey of the literature inform this
>remarkable review of the psychic life of birds.
>
>Althugh birds vary widely by species, many of them have a striking
>ability to recognize as individuals not only other birds of teir own
>kind (which all look alike to humans), but also familiar humans, even
>after a long absence. They have good memories and give indications
>of forethought. They can be taught to count up to eight, and some
>are known to use tools. The nests of bower birds and the songs of
>many other species also point strongly to an aesthetic sense. The
>journies of migrants between breeding and wintering territories
>thousands of miles apart speak of memory and navigational skills that
>baffle human observers.
>
>True, Skutch concludes, inferential evidence only suggests hyoptheses
>and cannot offer scientific proof. Nonetheless, his carefully
>gathered and documented observations, delightfully reported, accord
>with the intuition of many bird lovers that birds are not unfeeling
>automata but sensitive creatures, aware of what they do.
>
>The Minds of Birds
>0-89096-671-0 cloth $29.95
>
>JANUARY
>
>Texas A & M University Press
>Drawer C
>College Station, Texas 77843-4354
>1-800-826-8911
>(M-F, 8:00-5:00, central time)
>
>Sorry for the long post, and as before, pardon any finger-checks as
>they are mine!
>
>
>---
>Randy Franek University of North Texas
>Internet: Franek at cc1.unt.edu Computing Center
>Phone: (817) 565-2291 P. O. Box 13495
>FAX: (817) 565-4060 Denton, TX 76203-3495
>
>

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416