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THE NEST OF THE RINGED PLOVER, AND THE 



BEARING THEREOF ON THE EVOLUTION OF 



BIRDS' NESTS IN GENERAL. 



BY 



W. p. PYCRAFT. 



Though birds of any given species display a wonderful 

 uniformity in their selection of nest-building materials, 

 and in the structure of their nests, variations from the 

 normal are constantly met with. Sometimes such varia- 

 tions are obviously the result of force of circumstances, 

 but in other cases these departures are, or appear to be, 

 peculiarly erratic. Up to the present time such instances 

 have been regarded as merely curious, and no attempt has 

 been made to analyze the nature of these aberrations. 

 Nor, indeed, does any attempt ever appear to have been 

 made to account for the differences which obtain in the 

 domestic architecture of closely allied species breeding in 

 the same area, and under the same conditions — as, for 

 example, between the Mistle-Thrush, Song-Thrush, and 

 Blackbird. 



That a systematic study of the nests of our native 

 birds would bring to light many important facts there can 

 be no doubt, and it is much to be hoped that the readers 

 of " British Birds " may be induced to contribute towards 

 a solution of the problems they present. 



The following remarks are offered not so much as a 

 serious contribution to this subject as by way of an 

 indication of the nature of the work to be done. 



To begin at the beginning, it has been assumed that the 

 earliest birds bred in holes of trees, laying their eggs on 

 the decayed wood at the bottom of the hole, as is done by 

 many birds to-day. But this assumj)tion must be regarded 

 with caution, inasmuch as the earliest known bird, 

 Archseopteryx, was burdened with a ijeculiarly loiig, 



