THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BIRDS 249 



been brought to my bungalow, nor is it likely that the 

 captive bulbul, whose cage was placed in a small, 

 enclosed verandah, had ever set eyes upon a shikra. 

 It had left the nest before it was of an age at which it 

 could learn anything from its parents. Its display of 

 fear and its alarm-call were purely instinctive. Its 

 inherited memory must have caused it to behave as it 

 did. Speaking figuratively, its ancestors learned by 

 experience that the shikra is a dangerous bird — a bird 

 to be feared — and this experience has been inherited. 

 To express the matter in more exact language, this 

 inherited fear of the shikra is the product of natural 

 selection. For generations those bulbuls who did not 

 fear and avoid the shikra fell victims to it, while the 

 more cautious ones survived and their descendants 

 inherited this characteristic. 



Of all the arts practised by birds none is so wonderful 

 as that of nest-building. If it can be demonstrated 

 (as I believe it can) that this art is innate in a bird, 

 then there is no difficulty in believing that all the other 

 arts practised by the feathered folk are innate. 



Michelet boldly asserts that a bird has to learn how 

 to build a nest precisely as a schoolboy has to learn 

 arithmetic or algebra. By way of proof, he quotes 

 the case of his canary — Jonquille. " It must be stated 

 at the outset," he writes, " that Jonquille was born in 

 a cage, and had not seen how nests were made. As 

 soon as I saw her disturbed, and became aware of her 

 approaching maternity, I frequently opened her door 

 and allowed her freedom to collect in the room the 

 materials of the bed the little one would stand in need 



