148 PliOIiLEMS OF BIRD LIFE. 



perching, habits of swimming, habits of hunting, and habits 

 of eating, but the most remarkable habits of the bird are 

 those in some way connected with roi)roduction. 



What would have been the effects of reproduction on us 

 plain birds is a question no man can answer. We cannot 

 reason from the resemblances between birds and men in 

 answering that, for we do not know that the minds of both 

 are as near alike as their bodies are. But if we study birds, 

 we shall find among them two very remarkable habits which 

 no other creatures have so universally or in such perfection. 

 And they are habits which students tell us are due to this 

 instinct of reproduction. Nearly all birds make nests, and 

 nearly all that live in temperate and polar regions migrate, 

 or move to warmer winter homes, returning in the spring to 

 their breeding grounds. Mujration and nest-huilding are im- 

 portant habits, arising from the instinct of reproduction. 



Structure and color are the two points about a bird that we 

 notice first, bat his habits are just as interesting, and have a 

 meaning. They tell us about the bird's intellect and char- 

 acter, and by studying them, we may know how well educated 

 the bird is. Are you disappointed that the other problems 

 produced such great results, while this seems to give us so 

 little change? When we study migration and the other 

 changes of habits, we shall find them not less remarkable 

 than the thousand shapes and myriad colorings of the bird. 



