on Reason in Birds.



87



Goldfinches and others having chosen to build in a Hartz-cage,

because thus they had only to repel frontal attacks from other birds

in the aviary, whereas in a bush they would have had to be on the

alert at all points ; and of course we well know how many finches

have acquired the habit of building in boxes, whereas in their wild

state they were accustomed to building in a bush or tree ; but then

finches do not seem to be quite so conservative as other birds in their

methods of nidification since our common Sparrow is equally content

to build his orthodox bag'-like nest in a tree or merely to line a hole

in a bank, wall or building, with straw and feathers : and a pair of

Greenfinches which I caught nested without hesitation in a square

Canary nest-box hung on the wires of their aviary.


This year, however, I was rather astonished by the behaviour

of my female Hangnest (I discovered its sex by its dropping its eggs

to smash on the floor of its ornamental aviary): seeing that it was

apparently restlessly searching for something, I supplied it with some

long strips of bast, in the hope that it would construct a pendulous nest

from the same and that I might be able to thereby secure perfect

examples of its eggs for my cabinet. Well, at first everything looked

propitious, it took a long strip of bast and hung it over a branch of

fir (the top of a fir tree is suspended from the top of the aviary) ; it

twisted this about for a time, then pulled it out and started afresh :

presently, however, it seemed to change its mind and carried the

strip into a nest-box (cigar-box type), and after this every strip was

carried into that box and there the bird settled down, remaining in

the box incubating nothing sometimes for hours at a time.


As we well know how many of the Old—and some of the

New — World Starlings habitually build in holes ; the question came

into my mind as to whether all Starlings originally nested in this

manner and whether it would be possible to breed them all in

this way now.


Of course the reasoning pow T ers of the Starlings are very

highly developed : I have pointed out previously that my older

Hangnest, after watching me shut and fasten the door of his cage by

turning a hook over into an eye, presently came down, passed his bill

through the wire-netting lifted the hook over, pushed open the door

and gave me twrnnty minutes hard work with a net before he could



