A Review of Some Aspects of Avian Field Ethology 1
A REVIEW OF SOME ASPECTS OF AVIAN FIELD ETHOLOGY 1 ROBERT W. FICKEN AND MILLICENT S. FICKEN T•E last 30 yearshave seen the developmentof a new approachto the study of behavior, which has increasinglyinterested ornithologists as they have attemptedto understandavian biologyfully. This new ap- proachis now known as ethology. Both amateur and professionalorni- thologistshave contributedto its progressfrom the beginning. A basictenet of ethologyis that all behaviorof animalscan eventually be understood.The ethologistattempts to explainbehavior functionally (what doesit do for the animal?), causally(what are the internal and externalfactors responsible for each given behavior?),and evolutionarily (what is the probablephylogeny of the behavior,how doesit contribute to th'esurvival of the species,and what are the selectivepressures acting uponit?) (seeTinbergen, 1951, 1959; Hinde, 1959b). Somebasic proceduresare essentialin an ethologicalstudy (Hinde, 1959b: 564). The first step is to describeand classifyall the behavior of an animal, at the same time, if possible,dividing the behavior into logicalunits which can be dealt with furtherin other disciplines--particu- larly physiologyand ecology(see Russellet al., 1954). Althoughstudies often beginqualitatively, they eventuallyshould be quantified. Generali- zations,which are to be valid for many species,must be basedon work using closelyrelated speciesfirst, and more distantly related ones later. The animal is studied as an integrated whole. Some workers, notably Konrad Lorenz, keep and breed animalsin captivity under closescrutiny. Most of this paper dealswith communicationof birds. We have stressed particularly the analysisof displays,their evolution,and their relation to taxonomy--topicsof great interest to systematicornithologists as well as to ethologists.In addition, we discusscertain maintenanceactivities. LITERATURE OF ET•OLOC¾ Much of the early ethologicalliterature appearedin Europeanpublications, but it is now also appearingin this country frequently.
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