XVI 



BASKET MAKERS, THE VIREO AND 

 ORIOLE 



DOES the bird build its nest by instinct or does it exert 

 a reasoning power? Why doesn't the vireo build 

 a nest hke the robin? The vireos build basket nests; why 

 is it that all vireo nests are similar? A young vireo that 

 has never built a nest will make one as his parents before 

 him. He undoubtedly has the instinct to make a basket 

 nest, and does not know how to make any other. But 

 we often see nests that are poorly built, and this shows 

 that young birds are not as skillful as older ones. 



Are birds influenced by the sense of the beautiful in 

 making their nests? Do the vireos adorn their nests with 

 lichens to make them attractive, or to make them invisible 

 among the leaves and limbs, or just because they find the 

 lichens handy to build with? Many people have argued 

 that the birds are influenced principally by one of these 

 factors, but I see no reason why all these different things 

 do not influence the bird as It would influence us if we 

 were to build under similar circumstances. 



Imitation is perhaps the strongest factor in the life 

 of the chick from the time it leaves the shell till it is a 

 full-grown bird. Nest building, like singing, may be 

 largely by imitation, and the lasting impressions in a bird's 

 life must be during the first few weeks of Its existence. 



175 



