Word: shapely
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Such simplicity allows zoologists to do experiments with animals almost as if they were chemical compounds. Professor Tinbergen tells how he bothered a herring gull horribly by putting a red wooden egg in her nest. The shape and size of the egg were correct; they tended to release the gull's incubating reaction. But the red color touched off an attack reaction. The poor confused mother fought an exhausting battle between conflicting drives, until the "sitting drive" dominated long enough to allow her to sit down. She could feel the egg's tender shape beneath her, but could...
...with sticklebacks, prickly fresh-water fish that make good subjects for "releaser" experiments. The male builds a nest of fine sticks and tries to persuade females to lay their eggs inside it. He wastes no time on nonpregnant females. But when he sees one with a swollen abdomen, her shape acts upon him as a powerful releaser. He rushes into the lists of love, displaying his own releaser: a bright red belly...
Professor Tinbergen concludes that breeding sticklebacks do not see their mates as fish of the other sex. The male sees only an egg-distended shape; later he smells fresh eggs. The female sees a flash of red belly; later she feels a prodding. They sense little more of each other...
Brainard himself could remember nothing after the middle of the last lap, when he recalled thinking he would be unable to finish. He admitted he was not in shape for such an undertaking, but has had no after-effects...
...There was also hope that they would not meet in an overcrowded Tower of Babel but, as it were, upon a mountain top ... To some extent, events have moved in that direction but not in the spirit or the shape which was needed...