THE OOLOGIST 



81 



bond iu habits, no extensive series of birds 

 of the same species will be found to have 

 inherited the same and all the features of 

 their predecessors or companions ; there 

 will be some marked latent or obscure — 

 mental, as it were — quality which distin- 

 guishes the every movement of this bird 

 from that one. Authors have been profuse 

 in writing upon the ability of one bird to 

 build a beautiful nest ; while the sheer in- 

 ability or negligence of another of the same 

 species is manifest in the adjustment of ev- 

 ery straw. None the less true does it seem 

 in regard to the powers of singing possessed 

 by different individual birds ; and to the 

 unstudied person probably this fact, from 

 the opportunities afforded of noticing it, is 

 much the more evident. More than this, 

 is it not probable that the reasoning facul- 

 ties of one bii'd (for we most rigidly hold 

 that all the actions of birds are not instinct- 

 ive, any more than are those of the more 

 intelligent lower animals) in other depart- 

 ments — in selection, procuring of food, pro- 

 tection, etc. — whether the department be a 

 well known one or the converse, are more 

 decided than the same faculty or group of 

 faculties in another? The demeanor of 

 birds certainly does often bring out quali- 

 ties in quick succession, which we have nev- 

 er before noticed in others of the same kind, 

 and we can do no better than to put it down 

 to the credit of the author, that that partic- 

 vdar trait iu him is more largely developed 

 than in the generality of his fellows. 



But isolated as one well developed trait 

 may be in some individuals, others will be 

 Ibuud possessing a goodly number, all pret- 

 ty prominent, and rather diversified ; while 

 another individual or class will lack one or 

 all of them. A bird may have little taste 

 in nest-building, and following out the ac- 

 cessory characteristics, we see negligence 

 in its every action. She places her nest in 

 the first location that is fit for a bird's nest ; 

 its construction occupies her attention seem- 

 ingly only casually, and she appears to be 

 half-hearted iu the task of putting the ma- 

 terials together. Days will elapse between 

 the justification of one mass of material and 



another, when they could evidently be in- 

 corporated together to-day as well as to- 

 morrow. Close observation of the birds 

 shows them to be sitting about — not even 

 searching for material. This bird is inat- 

 tentive to her own eggs, and is away from 

 them during the pei'iod of incubation about 

 as many days in the aggregate as she is 

 upon them ; and when hatched, it will be 

 after the normal period of time required ;* 

 tlie young will receive little attention — be- 

 ing however usually well fed, but sometimes 

 unprotected, and this in cold, damp weath- 

 er quite as often as at other times. The 

 only satisfactory conclusion to be arrived 

 at to account for the finding of whole sets 

 of Bank Swallows' eggs unliatched and 

 spoiled, is that the parents must have been 

 negligent in caring for them. Observation 

 of various species during the breeding sea- 

 sou, has revealed the fact that frequently 

 the predominance of one peculiarity relating 

 to nesting is indicative of the cluiracter of 

 others ; and that where this one is strong, its 

 counterparts are likely to be strong also, as 

 in the instance of the bird above mentioned. 

 Birds naturally indifferent in their ordi- 

 nary habits, frequently exhibit indifference 

 in nest-building. We are often struck by 

 the taste displayed by a builder on one day, 

 while on the next we find a nest of the same 

 species quite shabby, not only in selection 

 of material, but the manner iu which it is 

 put together. There seems to be a perfect 

 coalescence of the constituent actions wliich 

 make iq) the carriage of some species with 

 their nesting habits, and tracing them out, 

 we note that one peculiarity in every posi- 

 tion in which we see the bird. A bird 

 careful in the construction of its nest is care- 

 ful of its young, and will endeavor to defend 



* This has been observed a number of times in 

 late j'ears ; two cases have tlius far come to qui- 

 notice this year — botli Robins. In one case t\u: 

 pair, tliough oif the nest nearly half the time, sue 

 eeedecl iu rearing two young, having sat upon the 

 eggs sixteen days, two or three days over time. In 

 the other instance, the female did not give the care 

 whicK even some of the more inattentive species 

 would to the young, and it seemed indeed surpris- 

 ing that the young should have been able to sur- 

 vive the cold and rain to which they were exposed. 



