The


Avicultural Magazine


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY

FOR THE STUDY OF

FOREIGN & BRITISH BIRDS

IN FREEDOM & CAPTIVITY



Third Series. —Vol. XII. —No. 9.— All rights reserved. SEPTEMBER, 1921.


ON INDIVIDUALITY


By The Marquess of Tavistock


It is one of the most obvious and well-known facts in the world

that no two human beings are exactly alike, and while one could

hardly venture to assert that no two beasts or birds are exactly alike,

the fascination of keeping animals in captivity and of studying them

in a wild state consists largely in observing the difference in character

and disposition between individuals of the same species. Nine hundred

and ninetyinine may display the same trait, and yet there is always

the chance that the thousandth may be a most striking exception to

the rule.


All who have kept large ruminants know that it is a certainty that

an adult male Deer of any species will be exceedingly dangerous in the

breeding season, if he has lost his fear of man, yet there is one authentic

record of a Red Stag—and a master Stag, too—who could be safely

bandied by his owner at all times of year, and there is also a record

of an equally amiable Fallow Buck. What is true of mammals is

equally true of birds ; most owners of large collections of Cranes and

waterfowl can supply instances of individual wild Geese which have

developed an intense and quite unreciprocated passion for individual

Cranes. I can remember a Brent Goose which fell in love with a

Whooping Crane and a Ross’ Snow Goose which attached itself to a

pair of Sarus. It is not the normal habit of Geese to take an interest

in Cranes, but there is a certain type of Goose mentality to which a

Crane makes an irresistible appeal; how interesting it would be to

know why ! Cranes, also, may be the victims of an abnormal and


9



