Nesting Tme. 



inspect every available site, the judg- 

 ment used in placing the nest where it 

 will escape detection, the complexity of 

 the work, all precludes the possibility 

 of instinct playing a very important 

 part in the matter. 



But why, then, do you ask, is the 

 oriole's nest always swung from a slender 

 bough, while the home of the meadow- 

 lark is invariably upon the ground? 

 Professor Alfred Russell Wallace has 

 suggested the answer to this, substan- 

 tially as follows : For the same reason 

 that the Esquimaux builds a dome- 

 shaped hut of ice blocks, and the South 

 Sea Islander a shelter of thatched straw; 

 that the inhabitants of Mexico use 

 adobe and tiled roofs, while the people 

 of Switzerland build chalets. It is an 

 adherence to such habits of architecture 

 as developed most naturally in conform- 

 ity with the customs of the people. 

 Birds which find their food chiefly on 

 the ground naturally nest in such places, 

 and build their nests of such material as 



195 



