THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BIRDS 251 



the nest was the first that that particular canary had 

 built. Birds, like human beings, learn to profit by 

 experience. Nest-building is an instinctive art, but 

 intelligence may step in and aid blind instinct. 



In this connection it is necessary to bear in mind 

 that the nest is completed long before the young birds 

 come out of the egg ; that they leave, or are driven 

 away from, the parents before the next nest-building 

 season. If young birds are taught nest-building, who 

 teaches them ? 



Proof of the instinctiveness of nest-building might 

 be multiplied indefinitely. There are on record scores of 

 instances of birds selecting impossible sites for their 

 nests ; ■ these are cases of instinct that has gone astray. 

 Again, the persistent way in which martins will rebuild, 

 or attempt to rebuild, nests that are destroyed, shows to 

 what an extent nest-construction is a matter of instinct. 

 One more concrete piece of evidence must suffice. 

 My friend, Captain Perreau, has, among other birds 

 in his aviary at Bukloh, in the Himalayas, some grey- 

 headed love-birds. This species has the peculiar habit 

 of lining the nest with strips of bark, which the hen 

 carries up to the nest amongst the feathers of the back. 

 Captain Perreau started with two cock love-birds and 

 one hen, and this last had the peculiarity of not 

 carrying up the lining to her nest in the orthodox way ; 

 nevertheless, her daughter, when she took unto herself 

 a husband, used to carry up bark and grass to her nest 

 in the orthodox manner. " Why did this hen do this ? " 

 Captain Perreau asks. " Her mother could not have 

 taught her. I have no other true love-birds ; and my 



