BIRDS’ NESTS. 251 
you have deceived youself. In fact, it sometimes 
happens that the biggest fool is the best bird’s-nester, 
and luck in eggs falls to those who have no theory. 
But December throws doubt even on the fool’s capacity, 
for as the leaves fall there appear nests by the dozen in 
places never suspected, and close to people’s faces. For 
one that has been taken ten have escaped. 
The defect of nest-building lies in the absence of pro- 
tection for the young birds. When they grow large 
and feel strong they bubble, as it were, over the edge of 
‘the cup-shaped nest. Their wings, though not yet full- 
grown, save them from injury in descent by spreading 
out like a parachute, but are powerless to assist them 
after reaching the ground. In the grass they are the 
prey of rooks, crows, magpies, jackdaws, snakes, rats, 
and cats. They have no means of escape whatever: 
they cannot fly nor run—the tall grass stops running 
—and are frequently killed for amusement by their 
enemies, who do not care to eat them. Numbers dic 
from exposure in the wet grass, or during rain, for they 
are not able to fly up and perch on a branch. The nest 
requires a structure round it like a cage,so that the 
fledglings might be prevented from leaving it till better 
able to save themselves. Those who go to South 
Kensington to look at the bird’s-nest collection there 
Should think of this if they hear any one discoursing on 
infallible instinct on the one hand, or evolution on the 
other. These two theories, the infallible instinct and 
that of evolution, practically represent the great opposing 
lines of thought—the traditional and the scientific. An 
examination of birds’ nests, if conducted free of pre- 
judice, will convince any independent person neither 
that the one nor the other explains these common 
hedge difficulties. Infallible instinct has not supplicd 
