Instinct and Intelligence in Birds

This book deals with the question of instinct and intelligence in birds.

“It may be safely said that birds seem to have much more capacity for perceiving beauty, much more gift for social enjoyment, a finer knowledge of distance and direction, and more power of vocal imitation, than any other order of animals of which we know anything... They obviously get a knowledge of geography, and, in some sense, of the air and its currents, such as no other creatures can have. They have an ear for music, and an eye for harmony of form and color, and probably of movement – for there are bird-dances which Taglioni would have despaired of imitating – such as no other member of the animal world possesses; and the perception of beauty, we know, depends on nothing so much as the coup d'œil, and this birds can always command.” (The Intellectual Powers of Birds)