The Biggest Bird's-Nest 



r 



superior comforts and defenses that is, the 

 umbrettes do not seem to increase faster than 

 do the other African waders. On the contrary, 

 they are nowhere numerous, and perhaps as a 

 race are on the decline. 



The explanation of the problem should no 

 doubt be sought in the early history of the 

 species. This bird is of very ancient lineage, 

 its anatomy, which has been specially investi- 

 gated by Beddard, showing many generalized 

 features, indicating that its history goes back 

 farther than that of any other species or group 

 of its kind. In short, it is the nearest remain- 

 ing representative of an ancestral stock from 

 which herons, storks and ibises have branched 

 off and become severally differentiated. The 

 conservatism it has shown in organization may 

 have been accompanied by an equal conserva- 

 tism of mind; and so its peculiar modern nest- 

 building is probably a traditional method de- 

 scended from a time when it was needful to make 

 so strong and warm a nest, and which has tena- 

 ciously been adhered to beyond a time when it 

 ceased to be advantageous. 

 ^235 $+ 



