THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIRDS' NESTS, 223B 
he had only an ignorant young girl to take care 
of him ; and the girl herself would be better off with 
a@ man of mature years, capable of supplying the 
place of a father to her. 
“Something like this custom prevails among many 
animals, A stout old buck can generally fight his 
way to the doe of his choice, and indeed of as many 
does as he can manage; but a young buck ‘of his 
first horns,’ must either content himself with celibacy, 
or with some dame well-stricken in years. 
“Compare the nearly parallel case of the domestic 
cock and of many other birds. Then consider the 
consequences amongst birds that pair, if an old cock 
sorts with a young hen and an old hen with a young 
cock, as I think is certainly the case with blackbirds 
and others that are known to fight for the youngest 
and handsomest females. One of each pair being al- 
ready an * old bird,’ will be competent to instruct its 
younger partner (not, only in the futility of * chaff, 
but) in the selection of a site for a nest and how to 
build it; then, how eggs are hatched and young 
birds reared. 
‘Such, in brief, is my idea of how a bird on its 
first espousals may be taught the Whole Duty of the 
married state.” 
On this difficult point I have sought for informa- 
tion from some of our best field ornithologists, but 
without success, as it is in most cases impossible to 
distinguish old from young birds after the first year. 
I am informed, however, that the males of blackbirds, 
