PROFIT AND LOSS IN THE BIRDS. 199 
In the variations from these standard shapes, as in 
the variations of eggs, a bird may show its kinship 
either onward or back. Thus the jays sometimes (or 
some of them, rather) have a twiggy nest, like a crow’s 
on one side, or a mud-cemented affair, like the black- 
bird’s, on the other. 
Often it is only one or two individual species of a 
group that will vary toward a kindred group, and this 
may crop out on different continents. Our orioles 
have been thought to resemble structurally the weaver 
birds; and our Baltimore beauty builds a nest some- 
what similar to theirs. Brown creepers and warblers 
are faintly akin. One warbler builds as the creeper—a 
striking breaking away from the customs of the family. 
Wrens and tits, of which last the nuthatch is a mem- 
ber, are akin, and the warblers are near by. One 
warbler runs on a tree as a nuthatch, and wrens may 
be seen sometimes running similarly—head downward 
—on a tree trunk. Some wrens build much like the 
tits—in holes. We have just noted the kinship of 
wrens and water ousels. The strain runs by the way 
of the so-called water thrushes, which are really war- 
blers. Now, the ousel builds a domed nest near 
water, one water thrush, called the ovenbird, often 
does the same, and nearly every wren’s nest is domed. 
Lastly, it is now well known to bird students that 
crows, ravens, jays, and magpies have a great pro- 
pensity to steal and hoard bright objects; that the 
birds of paradise are just crows in fine feathers, and 
the umbrella bird is a crow dressed as a drum major. 
In the whole family is an appreciation of pretty 
