The. Hawkeye 0. and O. 



INSTINCT OR REASON? 



Carthage, December 3, 1888. 



I have long thought of writing to the 0. and O. some things 

 of interest to all who love our birds. I have for years been a 

 close observer of the many strange vagaries of these, our friends, 

 who are so near us. I have arrived at tbe conclusion that no 

 rule of conduct with regard to' tbe building of nests or mode of 

 life can be laid down as arbitrary. The observations of one sum- 

 mer will destroy all preconceived notions. There must be some 

 thing beyond what we call instinct to guide in some of the 

 strange things we see so often. I shall endeavor to give some 

 of my own observations with regard to these things that prove 

 to me that some grains of reason lurk in the small brains of 

 these little bnsy bodies. 



Years ago when, as a boy, I roamed through the woods and 

 fields of Bremer county, Iowa, I gathered many fragments that 

 may now interest the readeis of the O. and O. I well remem- 

 ber the year the Rose- breasted Grosbeaks built their nests in 

 Bremer county. I cannot now give tbe date, but I know that 

 that year the nests were in the low bushes and thin trees, where 

 no such nests were to be found the year before. The conse- 

 quence was many of the nests were taken by the omnipresent 

 small boy. The next spring the nests of the Grosbeak were in 

 the elm trees out of reach of any but skillful climbers, of which 

 I never was one, and so saw lint few eggs after that. Did 

 instinct or reason teach the bird that a tall tree was a more safe 

 place than a low bush. 



Note the case of the Oriole as cited in St. Nicholas (The 

 mistake was made of calling it an Orchard Oriole instead of a 

 Baltimore, the nest of the Orchard Oriole being of grass instead 

 of strings and tow like the Baltimore.) The nest was on some 

 small twigs of which one was too slender, allowing the nest to 

 sag to one side. Was it instinct or reason that taught the 

 Oriole to take a string, weave it in one side of the nest and then 



