I’m not one to crow but...

I HAVE just finished reading an interesting book. It’s called Corvus — A Life With Birds, by Esther Woolfson. It’s about the tame birds that have lived in her house for most of her life.

Woolfson kept many different species of bird but has a particular interest in the crow family. She’s lived with a magpie and a carrion crow — originally tiny fledglings that had fallen, or been pushed, out of a nest at an early age and would undoubtedly have died if she hadn’t rescued them.

However, the star of the book is a remarkable rook, called Chicken, which has been a member of her family for 16 years.

What I found particularly interesting were the observations of Chicken’s intelligence and the range of emotions she displayed.

The intelligence of other species is a tricky subject. We’ve never really solved the problem of accurately measuring intelligence in our own species, let alone something as far removed from us as a bird.

At one end of the scale there is the trap of being sentimental and anthropomorphic and ascribing attributes to a much loved pet that it doesn’t posses. At the other end is the trap of being over-scientific and only believing what can be measured with instruments and recorded mathematically.

The truth lies somewhere in between these extremes.

What is certain is that 150 years ago our assumption was that man was an image of God and all other beasts were way down the hierarchy. This was a useful assumption because it helped to justify our persecution and enslavement of other species.

The advancement of science has steadily eroded this view. We now know many species have a consciousness of self, experience a wide range of emotions and are remarkably intelligent. Some of them have exceptional memories and the ability to anticipate the future and adjust their behaviour accordingly.

In fact, the only major category in which human beings approach being unique among animals is that we are uniquely successful.

The remarkable intelligence of birds has only come to light in the past 10 to 15 years. Most of the research has concentrated on parrots and members of the crow family. One thing that sparked it off was the discovery that a rather obscure species, called the New Caledonian crow, had extraordinary abilities when it came to making and using tools.

This remarkable tendency, for a bird, to make use of various materials as tools, caused people to take a closer look at the potential intelligence of crows at home.

And there is mounting evidence to suggest that species such as ravens, jackdaws, magpies and rooks are very bright indeed.

It’s difficult to quantify this but some researchers are suggesting these birds may be even more intelligent than chimpanzees.

I recently came across a historical reference to an 18th century bird market in Co Louth that describes choughs, another Irish crow species, [about the size of a jackdaw but with a curved red beak and red legs] being sold as cage birds because of their remarkable ability to talk.

Esther Woolfson’s birds talk as well and she has recordings of her magpie, Spike, who has passed away. These show that Spike was not only remarkably good at imitating human voices, he could also sometimes attach the correct concept to a word and construct sentences. He even talked on the phone to Esther’s daughter when she was away from home.

This is not a scientific book but the science in it is impeccable. It’s based on acute observation and is very readable. Parts of it reminded me of King Solomon’s Ring, the classic book by the Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz. If you have an interest in such things you should get hold of a copy.

Corvus — A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson published by Granta at €23.60

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