198 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



the ancient nest of her species which her ancestors, probably for hundreds of years, 

 had never seen. I am led to make these obser\'ations, because Charles Dixon in 

 his "Jottings about Birds," pp. 235-239, is so indignant with those who insist 

 that the architectural power of birds is instincti\-e. To m}- mind it is infinitely 

 more difficult to believe that besotted looking sleepy fledglings should be capable 

 of appreciating the intricacies of the nests which the}^ are leaving, and should be 

 able so to fix them in their memories, as (a year afterwards) to be in a position 

 to reproduce them ; than that the art should be instinctive. Mr. Dixon has indeed 

 shown that some English Chaffinches taken to Xew Zealand built an aberrant 

 nest there ; but this proves absolute!}' nothing ; for abnormal nests are by no means 

 uncommon even in England : — I have a House-Sparrow's nest built like that of 

 a Duck, a large thick-walled open saucer (of the usual materials) placed in the 

 middle of a hawthorn bush ; I have a Spotted Flycatcher's nest built in a narrow 

 cre\dce in a brick- wall, and formed like a slipper; with several other aberrant nests 

 to be mentioned later in the work : I have also proved that Goldfinches and Grey 

 Singing-finches in an a\-iar\', prefer building their nests upon the floor of a Hartz- 

 Canary cage, to utilizing a bush. These facts clearly show that birds do not build 

 bjr imitation, but distinctly inherit and adapt their parents' handicraft, just as, in 

 a lesser degree, human beings do ; for it is a notorious fact that manv artists are 

 able to trace their power to a direct ancestor, whether in painting, music, or even 

 logic. ^Moreover, as study is necessarj^ to perfect our gifts, so also with young 

 birds several nests are often commenced and pulled to pieces before a satisfactory' 

 result is attained. The bird in the nest sees next to nothing of its character, the 

 lining onl}' is constantly before its e3-es, and the lining is that part of the structure 

 which is formed mechanical!}-, b}- the squatting down and twisting round of the 

 parent bird : how then, even if it had a retentive memor}-, could it learn the method 

 of construction of the complete outer walls. To my mind this is infinitely more 

 inconceivable than that the power to build a certain t\-pe of nest should be inher- 

 ited ; the fact that heredit}' is not incapable of modification or blind, would explain 

 why a bird was still able to adapt the outline of its nest or even the materials to 

 altered conditions. 



