NATURE STUDY — THK BIRD'S NEST. 209 



birds employed long, slender grass and the fibrous bark of 

 vines and tender plants indigenous to this country, but 

 since the advent of the wild hemp and the Indian mallon 

 they resort almost entirely to these plants for their building 

 material. Perhaps the nest of no other bird exhibits so 

 much evidence of constructive adaptability as these Amer- 

 ican orioles. Wilson, the ornithologist, says they " exhibit 

 not only art in the construction, but judgment in adapting 

 their fabrications so judiciously to their particular situa- 

 tions." It does not all proceed from mere instinct; if it 

 did, they would build their nest in the same manner 

 wherever they might fix it, and without any relation to 

 their immediate surroundings, but we are able to cite a 

 number of examples as strong evidence that such is not 

 the case. As an example, in southern Indiana the com- 

 mon yellow-billed cuckoo builds a very fragile nest con- 

 sisting, for the most part, of the withering staminate cat- 

 kins of the oak blossoms, while in northern Indiana, in 

 the presence of numerous swamps or transient pools, where 

 greater dangers would be incurred, it disclaims the im- 

 pulse of instinct and constructs a substantial nest. It 

 seems to reason from cause to consequence and acts with a 

 guarded eye for future safety and present necessity. I^et 

 this fundamental fact of bird-life be developed before the 

 pupils by citing examples and presenting a series of ques- 

 tions that birds do change their habits and are not guided 

 solely by instinct. 



"What can be said of the chimney swifts and other birds 

 in this respect ? How did the orchard oriole, barn swal- 

 low and house wren get their names ? Orioles prefer plant 

 fibers, but the following material has been found in the 

 structure of their nests : fish-line, kite-strings, bits of rags, 

 calico-ravellings. Do you notice any difference in the 

 beauty of the nests ? Do they appear to build for beauty, 

 or for disguise and concealment ? Should the nest not al- 



