The Use by Birds of 



by A. H. 



Ihe eminent American n;ilm alisl 

 John Burroughs was somewhat aslray 

 when he declared about titty J(<af5i 

 ago. in doc of his tlUmCfQUS books, 

 Alan fc) the onlv inventive and tOfifl 

 using animal". That sage eommen 

 tutor would probably have been 

 astonished if mlomicd lh.it ihcre arc 

 two or thiee species of wild mam- 

 mals and W feast ten species of birds 

 that arc mote or less proficient in the 

 use of tools, 



1 his mailer ol tool using by non- 

 huinan creatines has been rccogni/.ed 

 in Australia since about 1 840. when 

 lolm Gilbert, able collaborator ol the 

 zoologist John CjouIiI, reported from 

 Western Australia, on the aiilhonu 

 of Aborigines, that Black-brcasicd 

 Buzzards weic known to break 

 t'mus' eggs with stones in order lo 

 e,it the contents. Dclinile reports Of 

 the kind were published later from 

 both sides of the continent, together 

 sm lit differing examples of tool UsinjJ 

 bv other species of birds, and in 

 1954 I summarised these records in 

 an article in the fbh I England). 



More rcccnlly. the subject has 

 come under notice anew through the 

 medium of lane and Hugo win 

 I awiek-Guodall. who. after noting 

 tool using by chimpanzees in Africa, 

 tinned to watching and photograph- 

 inc Egyptian Vultures hrcakhie 0*1 

 lich eggs with stones I heir tirsl 

 icport appeared in Naiur, (England) 

 in December l&fifi Regrettably, it 

 was maireil by the statement that 

 only one other species of bird had 

 been known lo use a natural object 

 as a tool, this hcing the Wood- 

 pecker-finch of the Galapagos Islands. 



Tools and Playthings 



IISHOI.M* 



which lists a ihom or sharp Mick i, 

 prise insects from holes. In l,,| Cr 

 writings, howevei. the Afticau-basoJ 

 ireoidcrs -caught up" with sonic 

 (but not all) of other published 

 mulct ial on ihe general subject 



With this situation in mind, ii 

 seems desirable [0 bring all available 

 lecords ol this nature together. Jj 

 l.tei I did so up lo a point, in „., 

 article In the .Si'<//t>\v Morning IfciulJ 

 in July IS/67, hul olher cases in kind 

 have come to notice since then, imd I 

 thus a review ol ptesent-day knou- 

 ledge of the subject may well be 

 given hi a journal of natural history 



1 ue-sniasliiri; b> lliiz/urits 



| he ltl.u k breasted Bliz/aid {Jiamb 

 ,<>s(m nit liinnsifrna) , a large kite- 

 hawk of the Australian inland, is 

 muCJl addiricil to foraging on the 

 .wound, wheic it prevs on reptiles, 

 small mammals, and young birds 

 Doubtless ground haunting made the 

 species, long aijo. familiar with the 

 Bgtei ol I'm us and Bustards, and, 

 l.tiline to break these, or at least the 

 large" and hard-shcllcd products ol 

 Hie l inu, with its beak, it somehow 

 ..equued Ihe habit ol using stones 

 oi other hard objects as missiles or 

 hammers. 



Indeed, so fcsolute is this preda- 

 tor, and so -well-informed" regard- 

 mi! eggs, that it will drive a brood 

 [TIB I mil olf its nest Gilbert reported 

 action of the kind fin the IX40N) 

 when telling Gould what the Ifltlfl 

 described |S a mosl singular Story" 

 he said he mid hecn told thai * 

 Bu/^ard would attack a hi-oiidi-if 



•Hwoiy Moll*. 138 M^.im* id . SvJncV 



130 



Vicl N=t Vol 88 



