TWO COMMON BIRDS 



(as the bird was called) without hesitation 

 stepped into the dish, stooped down, ducked 

 his head under, beat the water with his wings, 

 and in fact went through all the motions 

 proper to taking a bath. Indeed he took as 

 thorough a bath as I have ever seen any full- 

 grown wild thrush take. When he saw the 

 water splash and ripple he instantly under- 

 stood what it was and what he must do, 

 though in all his little life he had never seen 

 any water save rain drops ! It was a clear 

 case of instinctive knowledge. 



Of course nest building is the best known 

 instinct among birds, young ones with no 

 previous experience building as good, or nearly 

 as good, nests as birds of three or four years' 

 experience. It does seem extraordinary to 

 think that with no one to explain to it a young 

 bird will gather the proper and most suitable 

 stuff with which to build, and make not only 

 a good and serviceable nest, but one according 

 to the peculiar pattern of its kind. You never 

 see a thrush's nest vary from the clay-lined 

 type that all thrushes build, nor a blackbird's 

 that was not lined with fine grass. Every 

 schoolboy and girl know the two nests, and 

 know tha*t in the clay mud-lined nest will be 



63 



