I suspect that the No Dead Birds rule may derive from a British
bird-watching scandal known as the 'Hastings Rarities'. Can't say when,
maybe 1920s. At any rate a celebrated bird watcher used to check for
beach-washed specimens in the migration seasons, and he recorded many
very interesting birds, with specimens to prove it. A statistical
analysis proved that the occurrence of these birds was much higher on
his patch than anywhere else in Britain, and the suggestion was that
dead, maybe frozen specimens were being imported from foreign parts for
him to 'find'. This made all 'found dead' specimens dubious. This was
written up by the late James Fisher, author of several good popular
books on birdsand bird-watching.
Anthea Fleming
On 10/06/2014 8:41 AM, Martin Butterfield wrote:
What is the default position on natural vs human transport? That is, if a
corpse is found somewhere do you start by counting it as getting there
naturally (eg washed ashore by currents; dropped by a raptor) or assume
that a human must have got it there?
Obviously the environment in which it is found plays a role (eg if in a
Peregrine's nest a very strong chance it was taken by the falcon when
alive) as does distance from known habitat (eg a WA endemic found in the
Sydney Domain would suggest some form of human intervention).
My personal position would be that natural means would be the starting
point and some evidence (tangible - say bullet holes - or circumstantial -
the endemic example) is required to declare it human-assisted.
Martin Butterfield
http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/
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