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Some Notes on the Psychology of Birds,* 

 By C. William Beebe. 



Even a superficial study of the psychology of birds com- 

 pels us to attribute to them a highly developed intellectual 

 and emotional life. Some examples may make this more evi- 

 dent, and I will mention a few which entail rather complex 

 psychic processes. 



Birds have remarkable memories. It is said a pigeon will 

 remember a person after many months, and a bullfinch has 

 been known to recognize a voice after a year's tune. I 

 have seen an immature Bald Eagle show decided recognition 

 of a lady who had raised the bird from the nest by hand, 

 even after a year's absence from her and association with a 

 dozen other eagles. The bird came to her and permitted 

 familiarities which he would not allow from any other person. 



Birds, apparently, often dream, as is evidenced by their 

 frequently singmg or chattering in their sleep. 



There are few species of birds which do not show the emo- 

 tions of love and sympathy, and many even exhibit a sin- 

 cerity of affection that is strong enough to cause them to 

 mate for life — a trait which is very rare among mammals. 

 Even in those species which pair for only a year, their mutual 

 sympathy is so great that one of the two will sometunes pine 

 and die with grief at the loss of its mate. Indeed, sympathy 

 is the key-note in the growth of the higher intellectual and 

 social qualities which find their culmination in man, and Pro- 

 fessor Shaler is right when he attributes to birds a higher 

 development of this emotion than to any other creatures 

 below man. Reptiles can be trained to know their keeper, 



* [This article, first published in the Seventh Annual Report of the N. Y. 

 Zoological Society for the year 1902, has been revised and rewritten by 

 Mr. Beebe. — Ed.] 



