Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy 123

The Family 13
where they learned Latin and classical Greek followed by a modern language. This
reflected a commitment to intellectual synthesis rather than an early specialization
(Harwood 1994: 17). The gymnasiums to which the Mayrs sent their sons
in Würzburg, Munich, and Dresden were elite schools, the best available in these
cities. This education prepared Ernst to deal with complex issues of evolutionary
theory and philosophy in later years.
The family was quite well-to-do before the early death of Ernst’s father in 1917
and the German hyperinflation during the 1920s. They used to have a servant and
at times even a second one. However, they always lived fairly modestly in a large
apartment in the city, not in their own house. Like most other people in the country,
they had no telephone or gaslight, no running hot water or refrigerator. Food was
kept from spoiling during the summer in a big ice box cooled by thick slabs of ice;
and, of course, they had no car. For any long distances in the city one used the
electric tram.
Ernst was not interested in technical things, as many other boys were, and in
school his worst subjects were drawing and singing. Otherwise, however, he was
a first-class student with top grades. He did not collect stamps, rocks, or insects
but he was an early observer. At the age of about two or three, he knew, like most
children, to discriminate all the colors.
“One day my mother gave a tea to her sisters and girlfriends and wanted to
brag about my achievement. It was spring and one of the aunts asked, What color
are trees? To my mother’s horror I answered, Pink. When pressed, What trees are
pink? I immediately answered, Almond trees. They were pink flowering just at
that time in several neighboring gardens, and mine and my mother’s prestige was
rescued. I think my enthusiasm for birdwatching was in part due to my capacity
for making observations.” One day grandmother Minna remarked to Otto, Ernst’s
elder brother: “Watch out well, little Ernsty will eventually pass you.”
In an early notebook, Ernst recorded that the family went to the Munich Hoftheater
to see Friedrich Schiller’s “Wilhelm Tell” in 1914. During 1916–1917, Ernst
took piano lessons and played several pieces for the family on Christmas Eve as he
reported to Aunt Marguerite (one of his mother’s sisters in Dresden) on 21 January
1917. He had recently attended a church concert and was reading G. Freytag’s Soll
und Haben. However, since he never practiced in spite of his mother’s urging, the
piano lessons were dropped. On 25 March 1917, the family attended Mozart’s Magic
Flute. Ernst noted the cast of this his first opera in detail and how the soprano voice
ofMariaIvogünastheQueenoftheNighthadenchantedhim.
After her husband’s death from cancer in Munich on 1 July 1917, when Ernst
wasnotyet13yearsold,Mrs.MayrtookherthreesonstoliveinDresden(Saxony),
where she still had two brothers and four sisters. The Mayr boys finished
the Staatsgymnasium (“Royal Gymnasium” until 1918) in Dresden-Neustadt and
went to college on scholarships, some contributions from Aunt Gunny, and what
little their mother could spare from her rather meager pension. Ernst always felt
a tremendous admiration for his mother.
“She was an exemplary representative of the best Protestant ethics: generous,
frugal, hardworking, full of ideals, and with a wonderful sense of humor. I think