64 BIRDS' NESTS 



until a more complicated and perfect system of archi- 

 tecture has been reached. It requires, however, but a 

 small amount of reasoning to demonstrate the fallacy 

 of such a supposition, or an even less amount of 

 observation in the haunts of birds where nests can 

 be studied in relation to the habits and requirements 

 of their builders. The crude nest of the Ring Dove is 

 as admirably suited for the purpose it serves as is that 

 of the Chaffinch or the Long-tailed Titmouse. The 

 loosely-formed nest of the Jackdaw and the Chough 

 answers the purpose for which they are intended just 

 as effectually as the more elaborate and highly- 

 finished nests of the Jay or the Magpie ; whilst we 

 may equally rest assured that the hair-lined home of 

 the Wood Wren is just as admirably suited to the 

 requirements of that species as the feather-carpeted 

 abodes of the Willow Wren and the Chiffchaff are to 

 the special conditions of existence of those species. 

 Nesting conditions are too vitally important to the 

 species to be in any way imperfect. It is just as 

 vitally essential for the Tern or the Nightjar to hatch 

 their eggs nestless on the bare ground as for the 

 Magpie to produce its young in an elaborate roofed-in 

 nest, the procreant cradle (or even the want of it) 

 harmonising in every way with the special conditions 

 of reproduction. Our study in the present chapter of 

 the crudest forms of nests must not therefore in any 

 sense be taken as indicative of a low nest-building 

 capacity on the part of the birds that make them. 



