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Article: The Beak of the Finch.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- August 13, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE BEAK OF THE FINCH. By Jonathan Weiner. Alfred Knopf; 332 pages; $25. Jonathan Cape; Pounds 18.99
DARWIN'S finches are the classic example of evolution by natural selection. Yet the young naturalist, who shot 31 specimens from three islands during his exploration of the Galapagos archipelago in 1835, failed to appreciate the significance of these "very curious" birds, despite their hugely variable beaks. He even had trouble identifying the species, believing that his collection contained wrens, "gross-beaks" and several "icterus" (blackbird- relatives).
It took John Gould, an ornithologist and artist as well as a taxidermist, to recognise that Darwin's ...