78 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Devoted to Birds and Birds' Eggs 



SECOND PUBLICATION YEAR. 



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JANUARY, 1877. 



SOME DEDUCTIONS DRAWN 



FROM COMPARISON OF THE 



CHARACTERISTICS OF BIRDS. 



'T^HE inferences to be drawn in contem- 

 -■- plating some of th« peculiarities of 

 birds are often very striking, and present 

 many beautiful phases of characteristic. 

 Ornithologists sometimes think that the old 



routine of describing birds and their habits 

 is too general and unvarying in character 

 to be written and re- written, and continu- 

 ally harped upon, and have entered into the 

 agreeable field of studying the characteris- 

 tics of birds, and drawing therefrom con- 

 clusions based on comparisons made upon 

 some particular traits. In this, the class 

 of birds offers a wide range for research 

 and deliberation. Undeniable as some of 

 the facts are concerning ornithology, the 

 agencies affecting them present such a di- 

 versified scope, that many observers are re- 

 luctant to yield to simple description of ver- 

 ity, but aim to arrive at results more satis- 

 factory by induction. 



Did it ever occur to the readers of this 

 paper what relations there exist between the 

 nests of birds and certain of their manners 

 not strictly breeding habits ? A line of per- 

 fect congTuity seems to occur in many of 

 the opposite habits of birds, which, when 

 traced to a point of logical comparison, 

 show how beautiful are the dispositions of 

 nature. A very forcible example is found 

 in the correspondence of the nests of birds 

 to their individual habits of frequentation 

 and food, and in tlie correspondence of their 

 plumage, whetlier bright or dull, with the 

 prominence of the objects and places they 

 frequent. The former furnishes the more 

 substance for study ; the latter is plainer at 

 the outset. The SyliyicoU.da: or V(&Yh\e^Y& 

 all build neat nests, of materials riiore or 

 less fine, according as a general thing to the 

 positions in which they are placed. Those 

 building nearest the ground construct less 

 beautiful nests than those which nidificate 

 in trees, and they are always destitute of the 

 elegant mossy appearance and cosy cup- 

 shape, of those of our true Wood Warblers. 

 Such as are built upon the ground are not 

 necessarily still more humble in material, 

 but are more bulky and sizeable. In the 

 eggs of these birds, the most noticeable dif- 

 ference is in the tint of the shell ; those of 

 the Wood Warblers are always more deli- 

 cately colored than those of the Swamp 

 Warblers, a fact that with its due propor- 

 tions, applies to the eggs of all small birds 



