THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIKDS' NESTS AND EGGS 



IT is my intention to devote the closing pages of this 

 volume to a few remarks on the Nests and Eggs of birds. 

 These charming objects are almost universally regarded as 

 simple spoil for the cabinet pretty things to gaze upon from 

 time to time, like old china and other bric-a-brac, with no 

 interest beyond their exceeding beauty. By him who takes 

 delight in prying into Nature's secrets they are, however, re- 

 garded from a very different point of view. Close and unceas- 

 ing observation has enabled him to read their long important 

 history, and to trace the relationship of their varied tints 

 and intricate design with the economy of the feathered 

 creatures that produce them. 



Let me first of all strongly impress upon the reader that it is 

 impossible satisfactorily to study the egg or the nest of a bird 

 away from the bird itself the two objects are inseparably 

 linked together. Most necessary, therefore, is it to have the 

 bird and its life-history before us when studying the egg, with 

 its varied tints, and the nest that contains it, with its infinite 

 diversity of structure and position. In the first place, a word 

 must be given to the plumage of birds : Let us see how 

 the beautiful and harmonious colours of their plumage are 

 related to their nesting economy. Birds rank high in the 

 scale of beauty of all other living forms but few, if any, excel 

 them in the richness and variety of their outer covering. The 



