Buddy the talking Starling

That is astonishing. I suppose I can be a tiny bit happy, as a start to 2014, that I have survived all of my life, up till this stage without ever having heard such a crazy idea. I guess such an process would inspire a whole new vocabulary of swearing from the poor jackdaw. The only possible thing that I can imagine to inspire such wackiness is if someone ever dissected a bird to look at its paired syrinx, which is different to a mammal’s larynx, that they might think there is something good in split systems. But in 1390? Philip —–Original Message—– From: Birding-Aus [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@birding-aus.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Ambrose Sent: Monday, 20 January 2014 10:59 AM To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Buddy the talking Starling Geoffrey Chaucer perpetuated the cruel myth (in Maunciple’s Tale, written in 1390) that if a Jackdaw’s tongue was split at the tip with a silver sixpence ground to a knife edge, then it would talk better. As a young child I remember reading a novel (can’t remember which one, but it may have been an Enid Blyton novel) in which a Gypsy family in the English countryside had a pet Common Mynah whose tongue had been split to enable it to talk. Reference to this myth in classic English literature has, unfortunately, led to some people believing it to be true (as I discovered during a brief search of the internet this morning). Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org