In virtually every biology textbook, Darwin’s finches are quoted as a key proof of the theory of evolution.
For example: ‘It was, however, the diversity of adaptive structures shown by the 13 species of finches found within the archipelago which had the greatest influence on Darwin’s thinking on the mechanism of the origin of species’ (Biological Science 1&2, Taylor Green & Stout, 1997, Cambridge University Press).
However, they are not mentioned in Darwin’s book The Origin of Species, nor is there any discussion in his diary kept during the voyage of HMS Beagle. David Lack’s book Darwin’s Finches popularised the myth that the finches were instrumental in shaping Darwin’s thinking. Frank Sulloway, writing in the Journal of the History of Biology and a letter to Nature in the 1980s, exploded this myth.
