EDITORIAL STATEMENT. 



The material upon which this work on behavior is based is to be found, in the 

 main, in 32 manuscripts varying in length from 1 to 40 pages. Professor Whit- 

 man's interest in the behavior of pigeons was evidently subordinate to his main 

 tasks of a more biological nature. His work on behavior falls into two distinct 

 periods. The first period includes the years 1895 to 1898. The greater number of 

 the manuscripts bear these dates and consist of numerous short notes and descriptive 

 material with some degree of topical arrangement. In 1897 and 1898 the author 

 delivered lectures at Woods Hole on animal behavior; nearly half of these lectures 

 were devoted to the pigeons. These two lectures were published in 1899, and from 

 a perusal of the manuscripts it is evident that they were based to a large extent 

 upon the studies made during the two preceding years. Soon after the above 

 publication there appeared in the Monist, 1899, a short article on " Myths in Animal 

 Psychology," a part of which again refers to pigeon behavior. 



After an interval of 5 years the author's interest in behavior again recurs, and 

 we find a second period of study covering the years 1903 to 1907. The manuscripts 

 bearing these dates consist mainly of very detailed diary notes of the reproduc- 

 tive activities of several species of pigeons, and these, with one exception, were not 

 summarized. From a remark in one manuscript (R 29) it is evident that at this 

 time the author contemplated an extensive and intensive comparative study 

 of the behavior of several species of pigeons. In August 1906 he delivered a lec- 

 ture on "Examples of pigeon behavior" to a class at Woods Hole. This lecture 

 was not published, and according to a note on the title-page it was delivered extem- 

 poraneously. This lecture evidently utilized data gathered during both periods 

 of study. 



A copy of Fulton's Book of Pigeons contains many marked passages, and on 

 one of the fly-leaves was found in pencil a list of topics with their page references, 

 evidently for the purpose of copying. As a consequence, the editor has felt at 

 liberty to introduce several of these marked passages into the body of the present 

 text; he has also incorporated those parts of Professor Whitman's two published 

 articles on behavior which pertain primarily to pigeons. This has seemed advisable 

 for two reasons: It brings together in one volume all of the author's material 

 on behavior, and these writings furnish the reader the author's own interpreta- 

 tions and generalizations of the data of the manuscripts. 



In organizing this heterogeneous material the editor has followed, in the main, 

 the scheme made evident in various of the author's writings and in his final 

 unpublished lecture. The material is thus grouped around the three main divisions: 

 The Reproductive Cycle, Homing and Other Instincts, and the Relation of 

 Instinct and Intelligence. In each of these divisions, as nearly as possible, the 

 topical arrangement found in the manuscripts has been preserved. The first purpose 

 has been to present a naturalistic account of the behavior of pigeons in Professor 



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