182 Bird - Lore 
attempted to carry, and surprisingly large ones she succeeded in bearing to the 
small door, but here her inexperience was revealed. No matter how large the 
twig, she held it by the middle, and sought to push it into the small door broad- 
side. She seemed surprised that it would not go in, and dropped twig after 
twig, not knowing what was the matter. Sometimes she would find herself 
on the wrong side of the twig, as shown in the photograph, and get herself 
into positions which rendered success impossible. It was only after many 
attempts, and much failure, that she learned the trick of slipping her bill 
along to one end of 
the twig, and push- 
ing that end in. 
From this obser- 
vation it would ap- 
pear, not that the 
young bird was 
taught, nor yet that 
her instinct was 
wholly adequate, 
but that, following 
her instinct, she 
quickly taught her- 
self by practice and 
failure how to work 
effectively. It is 
true, the male bird 
would occasionally 
come with a twig, 
and carry it in with 
the skill of experi- 
ence; but the female 
was not watching, 
and, as far as I 
é | could judge, did not 
ALonG learn from his ex- 
: ample. On the other 
hand, following her instinct to build a nest of twigs, she brought the twigs to 
the door of her home, and sought to push them in, taking a new grip with her 
bill after every push, but without moving the bill purposely to one end of the 
twig or the other, as the old bird did when he arrived at the house. In push- 
ing the twig seemed accidentally to slip one way or the other, and occasionally 
the little bird would be successful. A few successes seemed to awaken her to 
the secret, and it was not long before, upon bringing a twig to the door, she 
would deliberately begin to move her bill to one end or the other. 
“SHE LEARNED THE TRICK OF SLIPPING HER BILL 
THE ONE END OF THE TWIG” 
