Corvus (30 page)
Authors: Esther Woolfson
Many people have, in one way or another, helped me in the writing of this book.
I would like to thank Helen Ruthven, Mike Angove, Dot McMurray, Willie Primrose, Annie Malcolm, Anne Macleod, Sian Preece, Rosie Mackay, Gilian Dawson, Dorothy Schofield, Olivia McMahon, Janet Chisholm, Zanna Fawcett, Dawn McMillan. Chris and Pauline Robinson extended, as ever, warm hospitality for which I’m grateful, as I am for a memorable day in the hills. For every disputation and for much more, Neil Skinner; for their friendship and for the magpie, Elizabeth and William Johnstone; for his exceptional thoughtfulness towards Chicken, and indeed towards me, John Webb; my cousin and fellow goose-hunter, Roger Alexander, for being the best possible company while not finding geese; Ian Murray, for being an unfailing source of advice, opinion, humour and wisdom.
Vicky Dawson and Arthur Kerr have extended their vast knowledge and expertise to me and have been a source of strength and encouragement – I thank them as I do Jane Stewart, Jaclyn Petrie, Bridget
Verspoor, Ross Whyte, Niall Slater, Paul Traynor, Andy Ma, Jamie Watt and Lee Carr, whose company and enthusiasm transformed many Thursdays, and my colleagues Alasdair Fraser and Heather Gibson who have been generous in every way with their time, encouragement and professional judgement. To Esther Tyldesley of Edinburgh University’s Department of Chinese, and to the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, many thanks for their help.
My agent Jenny Brown, I thank for everything, for her resolution, her kindness and unflagging enthusiasm, for being more constellation than mere star. I am indebted to Sara Holloway for her insights, her tireless work and her enthusiasm – I owe her many and profound thanks as I do Lindsay Paterson who has done more for me than I could ever have expected, or imagined. I am grateful too to Amber Dowell and everyone at Granta whose expertise has made this book what it is.
I have drawn on the hard work and knowledge of many people who have written so eloquently on the subject of birds and have found their extraordinary scholarship, their observation and their love of birds a source of inspiration – I am grateful to them all as I am to Helen Macdonald for her beautiful illustrations and for her extraordinary understanding of birds.
And my family, Leah – Queen of St Mark’s pigeons – David, Rebecca, Hannah, Ian – to all of them, my gratitude and my love.
- Aberdeen,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Aberdeenshire,
1
,
2
,
3 - Able, Kenneth P.,
1 - albatrosses,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Altai mountains,
1 - American Crow and the Common
Raven, The
(Kilham),
1 - animal welfare,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Annals of Improbable Research
,
1 - Antarctic,
1
,
2
,
3 - anthropomorphism,
1
,
2- critical anthropomorphism,
1
- critical anthropomorphism,
- Apodidae,
1 - Appreciation of Birds, The
(Halle),
1 - archaeopteryx
(Archaeopteryx
lithographica
)
,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Arctic,
1
,
2
,
3 - Arctic Dreams
(Lopez),
1 - Aristotle,
1
,
2 - Assyrian myth,
1 - aurora borealis,
1
,
2 - Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium,
1
- Bardie (cockatiel),
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7 - Barnaby Rudge
(Dickens),
1 - Beecher, Henry Ward,
1 - Beinn a Bhùird,
1 - Beltane,
1
,
2
,
3 - Bird Brain
(Savage),
1 - Birds and Men
(Nicholson),
1
,
2 - birds
- aggression in,
1 - allopreening,
1 - bathing,
1 - brains of,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7 - colours and names,
1 - domestication of,
1 - evolution of,
1 - eyes,
1 - feathers,
1
,
2
,
3 - feelings and emotions in,
1
,
2 - infancy in,
1 - fear of,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - fossil record,
1 - intelligence in,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5 - legislation against,
1 - migration,
1
,
2
,
3 - moulting of,
1 - navigation,
1 - nestlings,
1 - pair-bonding among,
1 - and play,
1 - in poetry,
1
,
2 - preen glands,
1 - sense of smell,
1 - sense of taste,
1 - sleeping habits,
1 - and snoring,
1 - speeds of,
1 - sunning,
1 - vision in,
1
,
2 - wildness of,
1 - wings,
1
- aggression in,
- Birds, The
,
1 - birdsong,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6 - Birkhead, Tim,
1
,
2
,
3 - Bishop’s oos,
1 - blackbirds,
1
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2
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3
,
4
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5
,
6
,
7
,
8
,
9
,
10
,
11 - Bo Ju-yi,
1 - Book of Beasts
, A,
1 - Braque, Georges,
1 - Breakfast at Tiffany’s
,
1 - Bride, Queen of Spring,
1 - Britain,
1
,
2 - British Museum,
1 - Britten, Benjamin,
1 - bronze-olive pygmy tyrants,
1 - brown thrashers,
1 - Burghardt, Gordon,
1 - Byron, Lord,
1
- Cacatuidae,
1 - Cailleach Bheur, Queen of Winter,
1 - canaries,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Capote, Truman,
1
infancy of,
2
,
3 - Carmina Gadelica
,
1 - Carson, Rachel,
1
,
2 - cats,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
,
8
,
9
,
10
,
11 - Caudipteryx zoui
,
1 - Cennini, Cennino d’Andrea,
1 - Changma,
1 - Chaucer, Geoffrey,
1 - Chicken (rook),
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7- and allopreening,
1 - appearance,
1
,
2
,
3 - and autumn,
1 - bathing,
1 - beak,
1
,
2 - and bells,
1
,
2
,
3 - and black objects,
1
,
2 - caching,
1
,
2
,
3 - defecation,
1
,
2
,
3 - dislikes,
1 - eating habits,
1 - and empathy,
1 - and evolution,
1 - eyes,
1
,
2
,
3 - and favela house,
1
,
2 - fears,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5 - and feelings and emotions,
1
,
2 - and life with humans,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7
,
8 - moulting,
1
,
2
,
3 - musical tastes,
1 - naming of,
1 - nesting and egg-laying,
1
,
2 - and play,
1 - preening,
1 - roosting,
1 - sociability,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5 - and spring,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - and summer,
1
,
2 - talking,
1
,
2 - voice and singing,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - warmth,
1 - wildness of,
1 - wing-clipping,
1
,
2 - and winter,
1
,
2 - and Ziki,
1
,
2
- and allopreening,
- China,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - Chinese,
1
,
2
,
3 - choughs (
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
),
1
,
2
,
3 - Churchill, Winston,
1
,
2 - Circus Lumière,
1 - cladistics,
see
phylogenetic systematics - Cobb, Stanley,
1 - Colorado,
1
,
2 - compensatory mortality,
1 - Confuciosaurus sanctus
,
1 - Confucius (Kung Fu-tzu),
1 - consciousness,
1
,
2
,
3 - Coombs, Franklin,
1
,
2 - Cornell University,
1
,
2 - corvids,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5- in art and literature,
1 - beaks,
1
,
2 - behaviour,
1
,
2
,
3 - benefits of,
1 - black feathers,
1 - and black objects,
1
,
2 - brains of,
1 - caching,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - classification of,
1
,
2 - cooperative behaviour among,
1 - and defecation,
1 - distributions,
1
,
2 - egg-swapping among,
1 - evolution of,
1
,
2 - excrement,
1 - fears,
1
,
2
,
3 - feeding,
1
,
2 - fledglings,
1 - human fear of,
1
,
2 - intelligence in,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4 - and life with humans,
1 - migrations,
1 - monogamy among,
1 - moulting,
1 - nesting,
1 - persecution of,
1 - recognition among,
1 - social organisation,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5 - and songbird populations,
1 - voices and songs,
1 - warmth of,
1 - wildness of,
1 - wings of,
1
- in art and literature,
- cougars,
1 - Crathes Castle,
1
,
2
,
3 - creationism,
1
,
2
,
3 - Cretaceous period,
1
,
2 - crows,
1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,
5
,
6
,
7- appearance,
1 - benefits of,
1 - at bird-table,
1
,
2 - Byron’s,
1 - carrion crows (
Corvus corone
),
1
,
2
,
3 - in Chinese poetry,
1 - cooperative behaviour among,
1 - distributions,
1
,
2 - extinctions,
1 - and films,
1
,
2 - Flores crows,
1 - and Great Fire of London,
1 - Hawaiian crows,
1 - hooded crows (
Corvus corone
cornix
),
1
,
2
,
3 - intelligence in,
1
,
2
,
3 - and life with humans,
1 - lifespan of,
1 - Mariana crows,
1 - moulting,
1 - names for,
1 - in Native American culture,
1
,
2 - New Hebridean crows,
1 - pellets,
1 - persecution of,
1 - and play,
1 - and songbird populations,
1 - in superstition and myth,
1
,
2 - vocal apparatus,
1 - voices,
1 - wildness of,
1 - see also
Ziki
- appearance,
- Crows, The
(Coombs),
1
,
2 - Culloden, battle of,
1