NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



kind of bird keeps to its own kind of nest with 

 much constancy. The blackbird is first cousin of 

 the thrush, but the nests are very different, and so 

 it is all round. 



The Fashioning of the Nest 



As birds are practically handless since the arms 

 have been turned into wings the bulk of the work 

 is done with the bill and with the feet, and the body 

 is used to mould the framework, the bird turning 

 round and round inside the growing nest, making 

 it fitter at every turn with a poke of the bill and a 

 thrust of the foot. 



It is not very difficult to observe how a bird uses 

 its bill and feet in fashioning the nest, but it is 

 very difficult to get near the inward spirit. Perhaps 

 it is safe to say that nest-building is in great part an 

 inborn art, that it is instinctive. But this does not 

 shut out the possibility that in some cases imitation 

 and a sort of tradition may count for something. 

 Even further it may be possible to go in cases where 

 birds build in very novel places and use very peculiar 

 material, for then perhaps there is a spice of intelli- 

 gence in their skill. 



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