June 



The night-hawk deposits its eggs sometimes on 

 the ground, with perhaps the rudest outhne of 

 a nest in coarse twigs, sometimes on the bare 

 rock, and they have even been found on tlie 

 concrete roofs of city houses. This gives rise to 

 the suspicion of a culpable lack of domestic zeal, 

 but possibly such judgment should be modified 

 in the light of the attendant circumstance, that 

 the chicks are not born in the unprotected con- 

 dition of most birdlings, but when they come 

 out of the shell they are downy, and densely so 

 on the under side, which is an offset to the lack 

 of nest-protection. According to the Darwin- 

 ian scheme of development this is a significant 

 conjunction of facts, but it does not necessarily 

 settle the case in favor of the *< hawk." Did 

 nature first provide the thick down, and the 

 birds, observing the fact and taking counsel to- 

 gether, conclude that under the circumstances 

 it would be a waste of time and energy to fash- 

 ion anything elaborate ? Or shall we suppose 

 that from time immemorial these birds were 

 too lazy to treat their offspring in a proper pa- 

 rental manner, and that then nature rose to the 

 occasion, by struggling up into a protective 

 down ? As it is improbable, according to Dar- 

 win, that the two facts were originally synchro- 



187 



