THE THIRD PROBLEM OF BIRD LIFE. 147 



of the second problem was a change of color ; the specific effect 

 Of reproduction is an improvement in the bird's intelligence. It 

 is not that the other problems do not also have a similar 

 effect. Many a shrewd trick has the bird for hiding himself, 

 and many an inventive turn helps him in getting his food; 

 but food and safety can usually be secured without any great 

 tax upon his brain. It is working for a half-dozen helpless, 

 ignorant, fearless, stupid little nestlings that makes the bird 

 shrewd and ready. 



We seldom see birds do anything remarkable except at 

 their nesting season, or on their breeding grounds. We can- 

 not be said to know a bird's character unless we have met 

 him in his summer home, with his family. There he usually 

 has a peculiar song, and often a different dress and habits 

 than are seen elsewhere; sometimes he appears to be an 

 entirely different bird. Who would suspect that our North- 

 ern dandy, the bobolink, with his harmless rollicking ways, 

 gay suit, and glorious song, was the same bird as the dull- 

 colored, songless, mischievous rice-bird of the South? You 

 will notice, too, that the stupid birds are as a rule the least 

 affectionate. There is a very close relation between love and 



* 



intelligence. Nothing makes a man or a bird so quick to 

 learn and to invent as having to do for some one he loves. 

 We must admit that affection is one of the greatest possible 

 spurs to improvement. It seems to have done more than 

 anything else to develop the mind and character of the 

 bird. 



We cannot study changes of this sort as we can color and 

 structure. Those can be touched, seen, judged by the senses ; 

 but mental changes can be judged only by their effect upon 

 the actions of the bird. We see them in the habits of the 

 bird. Habits are ways of doing things. There are habits of 



