Speaking of duck social behavior, I'm in the middle of a book that I think
is worthwhile reading. It's The Moral Animal, by Robert Wright. I think
it does a good job of attempting to explain a lot of human social behavior
by natural selection. The old field of sociobiology, which first tried to
place human behavior into an evolutionary context only a few decades ago,
has developed (at least its human-behavior component) into evolutionary
psychology, a field in which many biologists, psychologists, and
sociologists seem to be comfortable.

Wright uses the life of Charles Darwin as an example of the (often quite
unconscious) use of social "strategies" in humans.

The October 1995 Scientific American has an article about this field, by
John Horgan, titled "The New Social Darwinists." A good description of our
present society is "Stone Agers in the fast lane;" think about it. Some
time while you're on a birding trip, of course.....

Dennis Paulson 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