120 Wild Birds and their Haunts 



THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN MAN 

 AND THE INFERIOR ANIMALS. 



IN previous notes I have devoted considerable space 

 to the characteristics of birds as architects, 

 whether as miners, ground-builders, masons, 

 carpenters, basket-makers, weavers, tailors, etc., but 

 I have not dwelt at much length upon any fancied 

 analogies between their arts and those of the human 

 race. The great distinction between man and the 

 inferior animals is that the one learns almost every art 

 progressively by his own experierce operating with the 

 accumulated knowledge of past generations, whilst the 

 others work by a fixed rule, improving very little if any 

 during the course of their own lives, and rarely deviating 

 to-day from the plans pursued by the same species a 

 thousand years ago. 



It is true that the swallow, which doubtless once built 

 its nest in hollow trees, has now accommodated itself to 

 the progress of human society by choosing chimneys 

 for nestling ; and it is also to be noticed, that in the 

 selection of materials a great many birds, as has been 

 already shown, accommodate themselves to their in- 

 dividual opportunities of procuring substances differing 

 in some degree from those used in other situations by the 

 same species. These adaptations only show that the 

 instinct which guides them to the construction of the 

 nests best fitted to their habits is not a blind one ; that 

 it is very nearly allied to the reasoning faculty, if it is not 

 identified with it. But that the rule by which birds 

 conduct their architectural labours is exceedingly limited, 

 must be evident from the consideration that no species 

 whatever is in a state of progression from a rude to a 

 polished style of construction. There is nearly as much 

 difference between the comparative beauty of the nests 

 of a wood-pigeon and of a bottle-tit, as between the hut 

 of a North American savage and a Grecian temple. 

 But although the savage, in the course of ages, may attain 



