iS92-J Elliot, Inheritance of Acquired Characters. on 



nests upon the ground, but in certain localities arboreal niditication 

 is adopted. This is witnessed in various parts of the Yellow- 

 stone, and upper Missouri regions, as related by Coues,* where 

 the birds build in the heavy timber along the larger streams, and 

 transport their young to the water in their bills, corresponding 

 with the habits of the Wood Duck, some of the Mergansers 

 and other Ducks. This character of change of habits is also ex- 

 emplified in the Herring Gull {L. a. smit/iso?iian?is) ., cixused 

 mainly by persecution, and to escape from its enemy, man. 

 Audubonf gives a striking instance of this. On arriving at 

 White Head Island in the Bay of Finidy, he was surprised to see 

 individuals of this species nesting in trees, and the owner of the 

 island, a Mr. Frankland, informed him that this habit had been 

 acquired within his recollection. When he first came to the 

 island all the nests were placed on the moss in open ground, but 

 as the eggs were collected for winter use, the old birds began to 

 nest in trees in the thickest part of the woods, and their young 

 followed this habit when their time of breeding arrived. Audu- 

 bon also states that on neighboring islands to which fishermen 

 and eggers have free access, this Gidl breeds altogether on trees, 

 and their original habits have been entirely given up. A remark- 

 able effect of this transmission of an acquired character is that 

 the young hatched in the trees do not leave the nest until they are 

 able to fly, while those hatched in nests on the ground run about 

 in less than a week and conceal themselves at the sight of man 

 among the moss and plants. Some of the nests he saw in the 

 trees were placed at a height of more than forty feet, those in the 

 thickest part of the woods were about ten feet from the ground, 

 and placed close to the stem, and were to be seen with difiiculty. 

 The species of the genus Colaftes build in holes in trees, either 

 natural cavities, or enlarged to suit their needs. But C. cafer is 

 known to breed in the banks of streams, where the absence of 

 trees renders such a proceeding necessaiy, arid like a Kingfisher, 

 readily excavates a bvuTow. This fact has been observed by 

 Mr. HenshawJ; in New Mexico and Arizona, and is also men- 

 tioned by Dr. J. A. Allen§ as occurring along the Ogden and 



*Birds of the North-west, 1874, p. 554. 

 tB. of Am. Vol. VII, p. 163. 

 JOrnith. Wheeler Survey, p. 401. 

 ^^Bull. Mus. Comp. Z06I. Ill, p. 169. 



