Evening star., 1934-11-07
INSTRUCTIVE ACTS
RULEB|RD'SL|FE
Love and Fidelity as Known
to Humans Foreign to
Avian Species.

True love hardly exists among birds.
Many OF the classics Of popular nat
ural history on the fidelity of bird
mothers to their young and OF other
birds to their mates are undermined
by studies of Dr. Herbert Friedman,
Smithsonian Institution biologist. His
conclusions tend to place the appar-
ent affection Of birds for each other
on a purely instructive level, although
they often seem. quite human" to
the unframed observer.
Even in human affection. he points
out, there may be a considerable ele-
ment of selflshness-regard for the
future in the attitude of parents
towards children and Identification of
self with the sufferer in cases Of SYM
pathy towards the unfoi tunate. But
these are intellectual elements, Of
which the bird is incapable.
Illness Brings Indifference.
"Where, in a human, love increases
towards an individual in sickness or
adversity," says DR.. Friedmann. "it
turns to irritability and then to
either cruelty or indifference in birds.
The members of flock may be living
in peace and harmony. Let one bird
be wounded and the rest. far from
protecting it. may turn on 1t, drive 1t
out, or even kill and sometimes eat II.
That such actions are unknown IN
humans is far from true. but on the
whole they do tend to develop COM
passion for their fellows in distress.
All our charitable organizations are
based on this feeling of kindness"
The love of bird parents for their
Young is shown by analysis to be
something quite different from !he
parental love of humans, DR.. Fried
mann says. When conditions OF life
run smoothly the bird parents seem
quite devoted to their young. They
feed them with surprising frequency
brooding and sheltering them from
strong sun or storms.
Blindness to Duty Evident.
But saws DR.. friedman, If any
thing should go amiss in the attend
ant conditions. the instructive nature
of the whole complicated process Is re-
vealed by its blindness and frequent
failure. In humans, parental affection
increases when a child Is sick or nurt.
But if a young bird is dying, the par
ents do not show more af1ectlons, put
less interest, and they may even Kill
II There are no data on love OF an
offspring toward the parents. AS FAR
as the attitude of the young Is con-
cerned. 1t is purely selfish situation.
TT not infrequently happens that
all the young in nest are not OF
equal size and vigor. When the par
ents come with food, the young birds
give their food reaction, and the one
giving the loudest calls and most vio-
lent reaction is usually the one fed
first. There is no such thing as con-
secutive feeding Of all the nestlings.
Consequently the smaller, weaker ones
often die of starvation. If the feelings
Of the parents were similar to those
of human mothers and fathers, they
would be disturbed over the weak con-
dition of their young and be greatly
panied by the starvation and death OF
one or more of their brood. They
show no concern at all.
Emotions Wholly Instructive.
"In cases where an infant dies
few days after birth there is sometimes
no great grief on the part OF the par
ents. But the longer a child lives, up tc
a certain age when 1t begins to be
personality in its own right and there
fore a conflict to the parents, the
greater the love they bear for 1t. In
birds it seems that parental love never
gets beyond the stage where 1t begins
in humans. The emotions concerned
are wholly on the instructive plane.
In humans they become terribly in
volved and much embellished by
thoughts of the future, the child rep
resenting the relaying to posterity OF
family pride, name, fortunes, ETC."
Another bit Of popular natural his
tory upon which Dr. Friedman throws
grave doubts Is the gallantry sup
posedly shown by the males of some
avian species during courtship.
"Courtship displays" he says. form
one of the most interesting features
Of avian behavior. In many species
the males have brightly colored, spe.
cialized plumes during this season
and 60 through posturings that show
of these feathers to the best advan-
tage. But males display even wher
no females are present. and in othel
cases females appear to pay little at.
tention to the displaying males, bu
60 on feeding quietly"
Far from being an effort to cour