174



Winter in Holland.



shelters in which to roost; doubtless they might prove useful during

a tropical thunderstorm ; but I do not, for one moment, think that

the birds have that object in view when they weave them. I feel

certain that if equal numbers of both sexes were available to do the

work none of these nests would be imperfect.


It is easy to understand why sociable and mutually affectionate

birds like Waxbills should share the labour of nest-building and one

can quite understand that the complicated plaiting in the pensile

nests of Hangnests could only be produced by the two sexes working

in unison.


I have pointed out elsewhere that although the different

groups of birds have the character of their typical nests impressed

upon their brains, and therefore instinctively build the same types

after the lapse of centuries ; nevertheless, they are perfectly capable

of altering the whole character of their architecture to accommodate

it to changed conditions ; moreover, in the case of our House-sparrow

we know that two totally dissimilar types are common, the well-

formed bag-like nest built in trees being utterly dissimilar in character

from the almost shapeless collection of rubbish which it piles up when

it builds in holes.*


I think, therefore, that we may safely conclude that different

circumstances decide the constructional impulses in birds, and not

the presence or absence of capacity in either sex ; although it is

probable that inexperience in the selection of the most suitable

materials by young birds may account for the flimsy and faulty char¬

acter of some of the nests which one meets with from time to time.


WINTER IN HOLLAND.


Mr. Blaauw writes :


You have no idea what I have gone through during this cold

spell. All the more delicate South American and South African and

Australian Waterfowl had to be taken indoors. The bird houses and

houses of the antelopes and zebras had all to be heated, and there

was hardly any coal to be got. We pulled through, however, some¬

how, and now the thaw has happily set in. Here also many wild



* I also have a nest constructed like that of a Duck which was built in the fork of

a hawthorn.



