#6 - Ornithologist: This bird species is widely thought to

[SherryZ]

Hola, thank you guys for helping me here!

Dec 2007 LSAT, Sec3 LR, Q6:

I chose B but the correct answer is D.

To my understanding, the ornithologist concludes that the bird might not primarily rely on vegetation because he observed that this kinda bird eat insects and other kinda animal food sources. Is my understanding correct?

Could you explain why D is right but B is wrong to me? I really appreciate it!

---Sherry

[Lucas Moreau]

Hello, Sherry,

B is not the best answer choice for this question, because B is asking for more specificity in an area that isn't the most relevant to the conclusion. It doesn't really matter what kind of animals these birds eat; as long as they're some kind of animals, that builds the ornithologist's argument that the birds are not vegetarians.

D, however, shows that the ornithologist might not have found all the information he needs. Notice in the stimulus he says he only observed the birds in the morning. (Lazy fellow. ) Perhaps the birds have a different diet at night, and eat the majority of their meals then; just pecking about for insects and such in the morning for a light snack. Until he finds out for sure one way or another, his argument is not as strong as it could be.

Hope that helps,
Lucas Moreau
PowerScore

[mcdonom4]

Hello!

I was wondering why (D) is the correct answer here? Is it because in the stimulus, the author states that they only observed the birds every morning, rather than many different times a day? I chose answer (C), thinking that it was correct because the author's evidence in proving the previous belief wrong was based only on an estimate.

Thanks!

[AthenaDalton]

You are on the right track!

Answer choice (D) is correct because the ornithologist only studied the birds' eating habits in the morning, not at other times of the day. He then extrapolates from this narrow dataset (what birds eat in the mornings) to a broad conclusion not supported by the data (what birds eat over a 24-hour period).

Answer choice (C), on the other hand, states that the ornithologist "adopts a widespread belief about the birds' feeding habits without considering the evidence that led to the belief." This is really the opposite of what the ornithologist did -- he collected evidence by observing the birds' feeding habits for several months and then made conclusions based on that evidence. His argument is not flawed for lack of evidence (he collected plenty of it), but because he makes an assumption that is broader than what the evidence supports.

A second reason answer choice (C) falls short is because it says that the ornithologist "adopts a widespread belief." In fact, he came to a conclusion that differs from the prevailing belief about this bird species. This bird species is "widely though to subsist primarily on vegetation," but the ornithologist disagrees with this widely held belief and comes to an opposite conclusion. A close reading will eliminate answer choice (C) because it changes some of the key facts from the stimulus.

I hope this helps!

Athena Dalton

[mcdonom4]

Athena,

Thank you so much, that totally clears it up for me!

[chian9010]

Could anyone explain why A is not the correct answer?

[Brook Miscoski]

Chian,

The reason that (A) cannot be correct is the phrase "without providing justification." The stimulus states that the ornithologist is "concealed" and "well-camouflaged" in a "blind," so there are facts to support the belief that the birds didn't notice the ornithologist.

[Sammiewhammie]

Hi,

I was quite confused between D and E. I went D in the end because of the observer only studying the birds in the morning. But I can’t help to think that E could also be seen as the best choice. Isn’t it possible that the birds changed their diet and now eat more insects than vegetation? Or is it because he indirectly implies that their diet has changed from vegetation to insects and so his reasoning is not vulnerable to criticism on those grounds?

Thanks,
Sam

[Adam Tyson]

The author is trying to prove that the widely held belief is false, Sam. If answer E is true, and the birds used to eat more vegetation but now eat more insects and animal sources, that would HELP the author, not weaken their argument! It would show that the widely held belief is not correct, even if at some time in the past it may have been true.