The Red Canary by Tim Birkhead, Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Basic Books, £16.99, ISBN 0297829963 Reviewed by Anne Kerr
HOW does the apparently gentle world of bird fanciers lead into the darkest corners of the past century? In The Red Canary, (titled A Brand-New Bird in the US) Tim Birkhead traces the life of Hans Duncker (1881-1961), from high-school teacher and bird enthusiast to experimental scientist – and eugenicist.
First we get the thoughtful details of European bird-keeping, early scientific studies of birdsong and the controversy of the early 20th century between Mendelism and biometry – the detailed recording of continuous variables. Birkhead gives…
