life. Wallace is doing quite well. Alec decides he must find something that Wallace has not found, in attempts to outdo Wallace. Alec thinks back to his days at the museum from when he was young. He remembers the bird without any feet. So he decides if he can find one of these he will get rich and become famous. So Alec sets out. He reaches the land where birds have no feet, but to his horror, this bird species does have feet! He discovers then that educated, “superior;” western world of science had put a bird in a museum and mislabeled it. Not only had they mislabeled it but also they even made up a story about how it takes flight without its feet and how it never lands in its whole lifetime. This not only sinks Alec’s hopes, but also makes the western world of science seem somewhat nonsensical. All these world-renowned, college-graduated, professors did not consider that the native people just cut off the feet of these birds to make them easier to skin Through this passage, the native people seem more down-to-earth with a sensible intelligence, and the “modern” or “civilized” people of the western world of science seem witless, too caught up in their scientific pursuits to think practically. This part of the story also points out the lack of attention from the scientists towards the natural environment of the jungle, and the lives of their “specimens” within it.An overall theme in this book is one of a bird with no feet. From the bird with no feet incident, we learn to be attentive to the environment. In “Birds with No Feet,” Alec does not kill for the advancement of science. He kills for his own reasons such as wealth, enjoyment, and fame. We see a difference between Wallace’s reactions and Alec’s reactions when both men’s ships burn, resulting in the loss of live and dead animals. Wallace says in a letter, “That each specime...
