THE WA YS OF BIRDS. 139 



venture near its nest. Or, observe the stolid 

 patience of the Heron fishing by the water-side, 

 waiting for many a weary hour in hope of food. 

 Their perseverance is none the less extraordinary. 

 Time after time will the House Martins begin to 

 make a new nest as soon as the old one is 

 destroyed. Then, how closely the Woodpeckers 

 will dig away at the bark for insects ; or, with 

 what pertinacity birds return year after year to 

 old familiar haunts, in spite of incessant persecu- 

 tion and disturbance. 



A study of the mental qualities of birds is 

 equally interesting. Birds are unquestionably 

 gifted with extensive powers of reason, and in- 

 numerable instances might be given in support of 

 such being the case. It is, of course, manifestly- 

 unjust to compare the reasoning capacities of 

 birds with those of highly civilised men, for then 

 the difference in degree is vast ; but this in- 

 equality becomes exceedingly less acute when the 

 reason of savage man is substituted for compari- 

 son. Birds, like savages, are gifted with amazing 

 powers of perception, with deeply-rooted affections, 

 with likes and dislikes, with acute aptitude for 

 observation, and with a considerable taste for the 

 beautiful, both in sight and in sound. Some or 

 other of these various mental qualities are con- 

 stantly being called into practice, and the observer 

 will have abundant evidence of their existence if 

 he watches the ways of birds from day to day. 



The habits of birds assume a newer and a 



