BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



CHAPTER I 



Importance of subject — Incompleteness of our information about 

 even the commonest species — ^Distinction between major 

 and minor habits — General activities or tricks of manner — 

 Greater importance of the latter in classification — Errors to 

 be avoided in observation. 



The study of birds is often looked down upon by- 

 general zoologists as a trifling pursuit, and the reason 

 of this is not far to seek ; what is called zoology 

 nowadays is for the most part the study of com- 

 parative anatomy, and from this point of view birds 

 are of extremely small interest ; they are remarkably 

 uniform in their general structure, and such varia- 

 tions of note as do occur are chiefly confined to 

 a few flightless families, such as Ostriches and Pen- 

 guins. 



One need not, indeed, be an anatomist to realize 

 the comparatively small structural interest of birds ; 

 a bird is at once and by everybody recognized as 

 such, while among the mammals, their rivals in 

 high development, one gets such extraordinarily 

 different types as whales, mice, bats, horses, lions, 

 I 



