[82 



Bird - Lore 



attempted to carry, and surprisingly large ones she succeeded in bearing to the 

 small door, but here her inexperience was revealed. No matter how large the 

 twig, she held it by the middle, and sought to push it into the small door broad- 

 side. She seemed surprised that it would not go in, and dropped twig after 

 twig, not knowing what was the matter. Sometimes she would find herself 

 on the wrong side of the twig, as shown in the photograph, and get herself 

 into positions which rendered success impossible. It was only after many 

 attempts, and much failure, that she learned the trick of slipping her bill 



along to one end of 

 ■F the twig, and push- 



ing that end in. 



From this obser- 

 vation it would ap- 

 pear, not that the 

 i^ , A ^^^^^^^^m/ young bird was 



^t "^^'"'^^^^^^^BVIs^^ taught, nor yet that 



^^ ^^ J^^KK^KIfl^it^'^' - ^'A^ her instinct was 



f ^^^^^H^^B^ ^^ wholly adequate, 



► ^9^^BK^^^ but that, following 



-^^J|jk|^|MK^-« her instinct, she 



^^^^^^^^^^^ quickly taught her- 



^ self by practice and 



failure how to work 

 effectively. It is 

 true, the male bird 

 would occasionally 

 come with a twig, 

 and carry it in with 

 the skill of experi- 

 ence; but the female 

 was not watching, 

 and, as far as I 

 could judge, did not 

 learn from his ex- 

 ample. On the other 



hand, following her instinct to build a nest of twigs, she brought the twigs to 

 the door of her home, and sought to push them in, taking a new grip with her 

 bill after every push, but without moving the bill purposely to one end of the 

 twig or the other, as the old bird did when he arrived at the house. In push- 

 ing the twig seemed accidentally to slip one way or the other, and occasionally 

 the little bird would be successful. A few successes seemed to awaken her to 

 the secret, and it was not long before, upon bringing a twig to the door, she 

 would deliberately begin to move her bill to one end or the other. 



'SHE LEARNED THE TRICK OF SUPPING HER BILL ALONG 

 THE ONE END OF THE TWIG" 



