324 I GO A- FISHING. 



west, over the sound to the low hills of Long Island, and 

 eastward to the meeting of the water with the horizon. 

 The birds were innumerable, and if one had not gotten to 

 be accustomed to it, their chatter and song would have 

 forbidden conversation. 



Occupying no small part of the piazza was a vast 

 aviary, in which Mrs. Ward had a host of pets, the birds 

 of many lands. And the afternoon previous Ward had 

 gathered some handfuls of the new-mown grass from the 

 lawn and spread it over the top of he wires, and, to our 

 surprise and delight, two weaver-birds had joyously seized 

 the material and woven a marvelous fabric — a hollow 

 nest — a bottle with a narrow neck hanging in the middle 

 of the cage. They were a fierce little pair of defenders 

 of their home altar, and would let no other bird come 

 near it ; and -as we sat and smoked we watched their 

 curious and cunning ways, and our talk ran somewhat in 

 this wise : 



" Where did they come from ?" 



" Bought in New York at a bird shop." 



" You don't know whether they were imported birds or 

 hatched in this country ?" 



" No ; but it would be curious if they were hatched 

 here. It would indicate an instinct beyond explanation 

 if birds should build nests in that form without having 

 been taught to do it, or without having seen it done. Do 

 you suppose that the child of ten or ten hundred genera- 

 tions of potters would know how to make an earthenware 

 plate without being taught ?" 



" No, I don't. But we are apt to confound instinct and 

 reason. The common notion that brutes do not reason 

 is, of course, erroneous. The possession of memory alone 

 does not imply reason, but the use of memory for com- 



