The Audubon Societies 



241 



time all birds were doubtless laying white eggs, like those of reptiles, for there had 

 been no reason for the development of color. And there was yet no reason for 

 the development of color on the eggs of birds nesting in dark cavities, nor has 

 there ever been in birds like the Woodpeckers, Kingfishers, and their allies 

 which nest in holes to 

 this day and lay pure 

 white eggs. But with 

 the birds that began 

 laying their eggs on the 

 ground it was quite a 

 different matter, for 

 white was very con- 

 spicuous and attracted 

 the attention of their 

 numerous enemies. 

 Doubtless these first 

 birds found it necessary 

 to cover their eggs, even 

 as do the Grebes today, 

 when they had to leave 

 them. Then, through 

 the process of 'natural 

 selection,' pigments, 

 intended to make the 

 eggs less conspicuous, 

 gradually developed, 

 and such eggs as those 

 of the Terns, Gulls, 

 and Gallinules resulted, 

 which are colored like 

 the ground or the ma- 

 terials of the nest and 

 are obviously protectively colored. The nests themselves were crude 

 affairs and attracted no attention. They were unsafe, however, in times 

 of storm and flood, and they gave but little protection to the young birds. 

 Fortunately, however, the young were hatched covered with down and were 

 able to run about so that they used the nest for only a short time. 



As birds progressed and it was found advantageous to have the eggs hatch 

 in shorter periods and to give greater care to the more helpless young, it 

 became necessary to build stronger and more comfortable nests, and these, by 

 their very size, were necessarily conspicuous unless they could be hidden. The 

 various ways in which birds then learned to conceal their nests or to place them 

 in inaccessible places is a story in itself, but the fact should be brought out 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 

 The bird conceals the nest and the nest conceals the eggs 



