BIRDS' NESTS. 251 



you have deceived youself. In fact, it sometimes 

 happens that the biggest fool is the best bird's-nester, 

 and luck in eggs falls to those who have no theory. 

 But December throws doubt even on the fool's capacity, 

 for as the leaves fall there appear nests by the dozen in 

 places never suspected, and close to people's faces. For 

 one that has been taken ten have escaped. 



The defect of nest-building lies in the absence of pro- 

 tection for the young birds. When they grow large 

 and feel strong they bubble, as it were, over the edge of 

 the cup-shaped nest. Their wings, though not yet full- 

 grown, save them from injury in descent by spreading 

 out like a parachute, but are powerless to assist them 

 after reaching the ground. In the grass they are the 

 prey of rooks, crows, magpies, jackdaws^ snakes, rats, 

 and cats. They have no means of escape whatever : 

 they cannot fly nor run — the tall grass stops running 

 — and are frequently killed for amusement by their 

 enemies, who do not care to eat them. Numbers die 

 from exposure in the wet grass, or during rain, for they 

 .are not able to fly up and perch on a branch. The nest 

 requires a structure round it like a cage, so that the 

 fledglings might be prevented from leaving it till better 

 able to save themselves. Those who go to South 

 Kensington to look at the bird's-nest collection there 

 should think of this if they hear any one discoursing on 

 infallible instinct on the one hand, or evolution on the 

 other. These two theories, the infallible instinct and 

 that of evolution, practically represent the great opposing 

 lines of thought — the traditional and the scientific. An 

 examination of birds' nests, if conducted free of pre- 

 judice, will convince any independent person neither 

 that the one nor the other explains these common 

 hedge difficulties. Infallible instinct has not supplied 



