68 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



Chapter IV. 



DO BIRDS IMPROVE AS ARCHITECTS? 



If birds were allowed to discuss their own merits as 

 architects, they might bring forward abundant proof to 

 show that they do improve in building; and they also 

 might lay fair claim to the possession of reason, not 

 only in the management of the young, but in many 

 other things. But as we cannot discuss this matter 

 with them, we must patiently investigate their work, 

 and thrust ourselves upon the privacy of their domestic 

 arrangements, if we care to know intimately the life 

 and habits of our feathered songsters. 



Birds of the same species vary nearly or quite as much 

 in their way, in the form and material used in building, 

 as savages of the same tribe vary in architecture. 



The brown thrush (Harporhi/nchus ntfus, Cob.) is a 

 good case in point. The male is a gay, careless, happy 

 songster, and seems to lure his mate into the same 

 thriftless habits, so that house - building is often post- 

 poned until within a few hours of actual need, when 

 haste and rapid work are very manifest. 



All through May I noticed a pair of brown thrushes 

 flitting about the grove. The male was a splendid per- 



