66 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



made. Directly in front of tbe cabin is a level space, occu- 

 p j ing a superficies about as large as that of tbe structure 

 i self. It a small lawn of soft moss, all transported thither, 

 kept smooth and clean, and free from grass, -weeds, stones and 

 O her objects not iu harmony with its design. Over this grace- 

 fid green carpet are scattered flowers and fruit of brilliant 

 c flora in such a manner that they really present tbe appear- 

 aice of an elegant little garden. Tbe greater proportion of 

 t ese ornaments appear to be accumulated near tbe entrance. 

 There, probably, tbe male brings bis daily surprises in his 

 tender visit to bis male. The variety of the objects thus col- 

 lected is very great, and they are always of brilliant colors. 

 Near the entrance of this cabin were a number of the fruit of 

 t'je Oarcmm, about the size of a small apple, and of a brilli- 

 ant violet hue. Others, the fruit of the (lanlenia, were nearly 

 as large, and these having four or five valves that open irregu- 

 larly, display a showy pulp and colored seeds of a bright 

 saffron color. There were also many clusters of a small rose- 

 colored fruit, but to what plant they belong I have not yet 

 been able to ascertain ; these inclosed in their pulp a yellow 

 seed that projected through the skin, with a singular effect. 

 The rose-colored flowers of a very beautiful species of 

 Viccinrum, were one of the principal ornaments, and these 

 floral decorations must, of course, vary with the season. And 

 not only from among flowers and fruits does the Amblyornh 

 select its adornments, but bright fungi and elegantly colored 

 insects are also found deposited in its garden and within the 

 galleries of its cabin. After these objects have been exposed 

 for some time, and have lost their freshness, they are taken 

 from their abode and thrown away, and are replaced by others. 



The genius of the Amblyornh is not limited to the construc- 

 tion of a house and pleasure-grounds. It is, in other respects, a 

 very intelligent bird, and one of tbe many names by which it is 

 known is that of Burun guru, or the master-bird. It has an 

 infinite variety of notes, and imitates the songs and the cries 

 of quite a large number of other birds, and thus constantly 

 diversifies its melodies. It often drove my hunters nearly 

 distracted when, attracted by some unfamiliar cry that 

 promised a novelty, it proved to be the notes of none other 

 than tbe Amh'yornh. Another name it has received is that 

 of Tukan-kobon, or gardener, which is also my name for it. 



Prom the facts I have given there is no room" for doubt that 

 the cabins and gardens of the Ainblyornh, as well as the 

 galleries and bowers of their kindred, are places for pleasur- 

 able retirement, where, at certain seasons, the males meet 

 and pay their addresses to the females, and cater for their 

 favor. 



If the philosopher could content himself with simply recog- 

 nizing natural phenomena precisely as they impress his senses, 

 •without being at the trouble of endeavoring to explain their 

 origin, and if the scope of the naturalist was but to describe 

 isolated facts, without attempting to investigate the connecting 

 laws, and demonstrate them to others, what I have narrated 

 touching the habits of our gardener should satisfy the most 

 curious enquirer into the wonders of nature. But one always 

 • feels so strong a desire— amounting even to a sense of neces- 

 sity — to give the explanations of the facts, that, while I do not 

 intend mentioning some of the reflections that have suggested 

 themselves to me while examining these constructions of the 

 Amblyornh at any length, I cannot pass the subject by in total 



It nas been the opinion, generally accepted, that the con- 

 structions made by animals, especially those of birds, result 

 from an innate faculty we denominate, instinct. It is also 

 maintained that all edifices reared by man are due to what we 

 call reason. That this opinion is not well founded Wallace 

 has very successfully demonstrated in his chapter on the 

 Philosophy of the Nests of Birds. I might bring forward 

 various facts in support of the views of this writer, and the 

 cabins and gardens of tbe Amblyornis afford me an oppor- 

 tunity only too tempting, but it is not at all convenient forme 

 at present to enter upon a subject so important, to present 

 which iu its full and proper development would require more 

 time that I have at my disposal. 



The constructions of the Amblyornh present for our solu- 

 tion a problem of no less interest : By what possible means 

 can a bird reach such a point of intellectual development as to 

 he able to construct an abode surpassing in ingenuity and 

 artistic taste the structures of any known member of the 

 winged tribes ? While I cannot treat the subject with the 

 fullness it deserves, I may throw some light upon it by certain 

 observations made by me during my journeyings. 



Wallace maintains that no bird is able, to construct a nest 

 iu the precise manner of other representatives of its species if 

 it has not first learned their methods, either from its own 

 parents or from others of its kind. Prom this it would follow 

 that a bird brought up in confinement from the nest cannot 

 construct one exactly as its fellows build theirs when at 

 liberty. 



To explain, then, how from a rude receptacle of their eggs, 

 birds learn to combine their efforts in the construction of more 

 perfect nests and habitations, we presume that the builders of 

 the improved nests must have enjoyed greater advantages 

 than those that build others less ingenious and less advan- 

 tageous, and that the superior constructions are preserved and 

 multiplied iu preference to the others. The theories account- 

 ing for these occurrences are known as natural selection and 

 sexual selection. According to the first, these individuals arc 

 retained and reproduced who are best able to resist; the 

 innumerable destructive forces agaiust which they struggle for 

 an existence. Iu accordance with the latter, the strongest, the 

 most attractive, or the most intelligent individuals, obtain a 

 much more numerous progeny, in consequence of the pref- 

 erence given to them by the females. 



In the special inslanca of the structures of the AmUyornis, 

 this bird must be supposed to have advanced to an ability to 

 build cabins and arrange gardens by the aid of natural selec- 

 tions, the females constantly indicating their preference for 

 those males that could best construct their cabins and adorn 

 then- gardens. As a necessary consequence those that pos- 

 sessed less artistic taste, not enjoying the favor of the females, 

 remained without progeny. And this will serve to explaiu 

 why this bird should have been educated up to a full apprecia- 

 tion of intelligence and intellectual endowments, so as to 

 prefer these, to mere beauty of form and the vanities of per- 

 sonal adornment. 



The Amblyornh, as well as the Ch'imyiodfm, belongs to 

 the group of birds of Paradise, in wdiich the sentiment of the 

 beautiful is indisputably largely developed. In the first 

 place, however, hazardous as the confession may seem, I am 

 of the opinion that, rather than mere sexual selection, there 

 should be supposed an intense desire to fulfill a beauti- 

 ful ideal, resulting in the production of such a variety of 

 forms and colors in their plumage as to render these birds 

 thus resplendent ; and that a like sentiment, taking a differ- 

 ent direction, instead of concentrating its force in personal 

 adornments, has, in the Amblyornh, developed the taste for 



the decoration of its habitation. Whatever theory we may 

 prefer to accept, I cannot doubt that the desire to be pleasicg 

 to the females must have exerted a powerful influence iu de- 

 veloping, in the birds of Paradise, the high grade of personal 

 beauty they enjoy, but 1 cannot understand how small 

 changes, which, according to Darwin, can only take place 

 slowly and accidentally in the males, can have exerted any 

 influence on the females, or that in consequence of such 

 slight advantages the more ornamented individuals have 

 alone been preserved. Without here intending to declare my 

 entire dissent from the theory of sexual selection, I must, at 

 least, express my doubts as to its essential importance, and 

 point out, instead, a cause far more potential— the desiresof the 

 individuals themselves acting upon their nervous im 

 and influencing their esthetic perceptions. Is it, for instauce, 

 by mere chance that the PamdUec apoda, in the morning, at 

 the rising of the sun, and in the evening-, at its going clown, 

 resorts to the tops or the highest trees of the forest that it may 

 enjoy these phenomena in all their splendor? I do not so be- 

 lieve, nor could I think that they do this in order to gain the 

 good will of the females, for this they do not seem to need : 

 and however probable this may have, seemed to others, what 

 evidence have we that the young males do not act in the same- 

 manner ? Iu confinement birds of Paradise go through the 

 same performances, even when no females are present. It 

 must be rather that they arc strongly attracted toward the 

 sun. The tints observable iu the heavens at these romantic 

 moments are their own ideals of beauty, and must, therefore, 

 exert a singular attraction ; and it is indisputable that all the 

 colors iu the mantle of this species are the same as maybe ob- 

 served at these moments in the country they iuhabit, and at 

 the season in which alone they put on their bridal plumage. 

 The dawn and the evening twilight present almost every day 

 a surprising brilliance of tints. The more distant clouds", and 

 those nearest the horizon, are stratified and gilded by the last 

 rays of the sun, now out of sight ; cirrus clouds, and darker 

 ones with purple shadings, rise above these, leaving tbe blue 

 of the sky visible at intervals in patches. The forest presents 

 its deepest shades of green, intensified by the approach of 

 night. All these shades of color aTe reproduced with admira- 

 ble exactness in the magnificent mantle of the birds of Para- 

 dise, in the yellow feathers may be recognized the fine 

 gilded strata of the horizon. The. colors of the soft down on 

 the breast are most similar to those of the clouds. 1 he bill 

 and the feet are of an azure hue, like that of the sky. On tbe 

 throat may be seen the colors that predominate in the forest, 

 and the head hos the golden yellow of tbe setting sun. At 

 these moments this bird of Paradise abandons itself to a most 

 passionate excitement ; it flies from branch to branch, opens 

 its wings, extends them to their full length, raises and de- 

 presses its long plume like feathers, now lowers and now ele- 

 vates its head, utters loud cries, curves its long tail, and seems 

 to delight in its own beauty and vain display. 



" How beautiful I would be, how attractive, could I only 

 adorn myself with the beautiful lints I observe from my aerial 

 heights !" may have been the aspiration of the first bird of 

 Paradise when its colors did not essentially differ from those 

 of the homely Amblyornh ; when perchance it may have had 

 the same sober costume, the color of its own hut ; when it 

 may even have had its cabin, and may also have adorned its 

 little garden, making grateful surprises to its lady love, de- 

 positing floral offeriugs at the door of her chamber. But one 

 day, blinded by vanity, it becomes ashamed of its modest 

 abode, and holds brilliant finery preferable to the humble ob- 

 scurity of its peaceful cabin. 



Is it, then, too extravagant to suppose that an intense de- 

 sire, a constant belief in the possibility of attaining to this 

 type of beauty may have produced a change in the colors and 

 the growth of the plumage ? I think not ; and what is even 

 more surprising is that while in the region inhabited by the 

 P. papuana the twilights are usually gilded, at Waighen 

 they are usually of a fiery red. Is it then by mere chance 

 that the bird of Paradise there found has a mantle similar in 

 its colors to those there exhibited in these daily phenomena? 

 Why does the Schlegelia calm have its bald head of the same 

 color as the sky, which it sees and admires from the branches 

 at the hour of its twilight courtships? Why, under similar 

 conditions, does the I). magnified display, over its rump, a 

 mantle resembling in color and in shape that half-moon 

 whose rays, perchance, illumine the arena, concealed in a 

 thicket of bushes, among the shrubbery, where these clumsy 

 champions, overloaded with ornament, contend for the favor 

 of the modest spectators of their gallant tournament? Oris 

 it by mere chance that the Gi ntinnarua is of exactly the sume 

 shade of color as the flowers of the Coitus, on the seeds of 

 Which it feeds? Why do tbe Oapf&wdgida, the owls, and 

 other nocturnal birds, always wear Obscure colors? Why is 

 it that among them we cannot find a single species with 

 bright colors, not even green, that would be their greatest 

 possible protection by day, while at night no color is of any 

 moment ? Why do the spots on some species of ' 

 remind us of the appearance of the heavens, clouds mingling 

 with the light of the moon, and as they may appeal to them 

 on moonlight nights as placed on some bough, they stand hour 

 after hour repenting their monotonous Ory, resembling blows 

 methodically struck with a piece of wood against the trunk of 

 a tree ? But I will not prolong suggestions that uiay have no 

 force, however plausible they may seem to be. 



What perception of eoldr can a nocturnal bin 

 ISext to none: to them the almost complete absence of light 

 must make all tints nearly uniform ; the only variety must be 

 limited to the more distinct spots, to luminous points and 

 slight differences in tone, such as shadows present on a clear 

 night. And how shall we account for well-marked cases of 

 deceptive imitation which the coloration of some birds occa- 

 sion? Por this I have no explanation. But what can be its 

 first cause? Is it to theui a case of life or death to clothe 

 themselves in the colors of the phenomena, of which they 

 the spectators ? In order to pursue our inquiries into these 

 facts, is it necessary to fall back upon the theory of natural 

 selection, or, to speak more accurately, that of natural elimi- 

 nation ? I would say not, because with nocturnal birds there 

 appears to be no connection, -while for diurnal birds, of 

 brilliant colors, the gift is more one of danger to them than of 

 advantage. 



Being~unable, in cases of imitation, to attribute any of the 

 results to natural elimination, it remains to be seen if it can be 

 caused by sexual selection. Tliis may happen where several 

 individuals begin to exhibit variations" to this extent thaL there 

 all at once appears a cause different from what we have re- 

 garded as the original cause. And here I am willing to con- 

 cede, as in fact it has been verified, that an individual may 

 begin to exhibit certain slight variation, without any evident 

 cause. We must, suppose that the females notice these varia- 

 tions and give their preference to those possessing these acci- 

 dental advantages. Admitting, then, that: these slight changes 

 must be, thus far, an advantage, and that other males labor 



under just so much disadvantage, it nevertheless seems to me 

 altogether too rash an assumption to assume that the latter, on 

 this account alone, are excluded from all intercourse with the 

 females. If these variations take place in a m 

 individuals, the- minority 'fiat do not share iti tfii r be 



eliminated ; but how can it ever happen that any such varis- 

 "' in so many individuals ? 



Id be explained or the hy- 

 ce as ii consequence of a 

 B blishedj .hut ii cannot 

 variations we accidental. 

 '. We willsup- 

 of a female at the epoch 



tion can all at once become 

 This would not be difficult if it c 

 pothesis that these- changes take | 

 general plane of variation, ahead 

 lie, on the supposition that, the fii 

 Take, for example, the case of /'i 

 pose, a young male in the plumage e. .. 

 when it begins to show the first feathers belonging to 11,0 

 h very of an adult male. There begin to appear veil >v, 1 n 1 L ■■;- 

 on its head— but why yellow rather than red, 'black Or blue ? 

 —some resplendent green feathers on the throat, s 

 yellow feathers on its back and sides. From th BG few 

 feathers have we the right to suppose that in such a single 

 case there must be admitted to be a remarkable imitation of 

 the sunset colors, unless we admit as established tbe idea of a 

 plane of variation, by means of which there ma bi 

 produced a perfect imitation of the phenomena ? A] 

 not be that then, by some chance, there sprang into 

 the feathers of a darker shade of orange that SO closely imi- 

 tate the deeper tints of the strata of clouds at the edge of the 

 horizon? These imitations may sdi have bad their- 

 the first fancy of the female for yellow feathers, mo I, from 

 .this beginning, followed by a continued series of fancies OB 

 of a continued accession of bright feathere, there have 

 e at last a complete imitation of the colors al stineeih As, 

 for example, iu observing the sky wc 1 ifti 



ulaie, now disperse, now change theil shape, and then, 

 nee, give place to some capricious combination in which 

 Igine that we can detect the images of certain animals; 

 but pan I regard this as any real explanation ? The better to 

 hypothesis. 1 will take iu illustration s 

 cry, one in regard to which there can IjP no qncs- 

 id and self evident imitation. I take, for exam- 

 ple, the well-known case of the " living leaf "—the 

 -a species of locust which at times imitates the form, the 

 ilor and the nervous structure of the leaf on which it lives 

 so exactly that it is all but impossible to distinguish the oue 

 from the other. 



One can imagine what must be the effect upon a Mantis as 

 it stands on a leaf and sees a bird passing close to it, knowing 

 that if it is discovered by it it will be it's victim ; what can it 

 do? It would gladly become invisible, it. would like to be 

 transformed into the leaf on which it crouches, (hat 

 escape the sharp eye of its persecutor ; but this has already 

 discovered it, seizes upon it, eagerly, and with clftWB and beat- 

 tears open its head and body and strips off its legs and other 

 limbs. It may happen that all the individuals found iu this 

 critical position do not undergo the same fate; son 

 the great peril. Is it strange that under the dominion of so 

 strong a nervous impression there should be imparled to the 

 eggs of a pregnant female, who has witnessed the tragic fate 

 of her companion, a strong predisposition affecting tile parts 

 susceptible of certain modifications of form by which it in- 

 clines to the taking on the appearance of cerlain objects — in 

 this case that of a leaf — which has caused on the pan of the 

 female in that awful moment so lively a desire to become, bb 

 her only means of safety? Nor is it improbable that, some of 

 the little ones, hatched from eggs deposited by her, will be 

 monstrosities, already showing signs of limbs taking on the 

 appearance of a leaf ,- for a monstrosity—and in this case it 

 would be a monstrosity— is not a thing of slow growth, but is 

 produced suddenly. Were this unusuul form injurious father 

 than beneficial, it would probably not be reproduced, but 

 should it appear that through this peculiarity individuals hav- 

 ing this form would be more safe, and individuals by this 

 means escaping, especially if found in a situation like That of 

 their mother, would become sensible of the advantage ofbeing 

 able to hide by imitating the leaf on which they are placed, 

 and their descendants— if not all, certainly a larger number 

 than in the first instance— would be favored with this advan- 

 tageous monstrosity, and these would continue to increase in 

 number, assume a form that would be uniform, hereditary, 

 and, within certain limits, unchanging. 



It is well known that in certain species of Phyllinm the imi- 

 tation is so perfect as to deceive man himself, and bi 

 most efficacious means of defence ; and thus the means of es- 

 cape, which they possessed iu the form of a MiuUm, are now- 

 changed into a means of deceiving by false appearances. 

 Their wings are depressed and spread out and no longer seem 

 for purposes of flight ; over these, nerve-like lecture 1 - are ex- 

 tended, as if to create an illusion and give the e He 

 the colors change with the age c " " 

 various lints of different period 

 transformed into 6 1 

 their hind claws have become 

 timid, SUSpk is ■'- 1 ..ition o: 



Ii tference, secure in its 1 ovu tranquillity. The same 

 takes place, in a different way, in the case of tin 

 I'hosma, etc., which imitate Ory twigs. Is i. 

 natural selection or rather natural elimination, in m 

 has had its share in the origin of these imitations: 

 also appears to me, these have been brought about , 

 by any other cause, by nervous sensations and 

 wit. 



To chum that by simple changes, originating at first in 

 mere accidents, there can be created these Imitations and 

 mimicries, without taking into account the v. I! . 

 and the idea of an established plan, would be about as unrea- 

 sonable as it would he to suppose that an architect 

 struct, an edifice by accumulating a. mere collection .,: 

 1 spy clear idea of what it is his intention 1.0 

 In the beginning I mentioned it as my belief that Ihe design 

 which both the true birds of Paradise and the Am 

 with their allied apeeies, propose, in - 



selves, the other iu the construction of cabins and gardens, 

 has simply reference to the gratifications and 1 

 the females. I maintain that this sentiment otoni 

 only by the aid of natural selection, is not enough to create 

 the colors of the one or to develope the ability to make con- 

 structions on the part, of the other. Andit seems lo me to lie 

 by no means too extravagant a supposition, that the existence; 

 among birds of so lively a taste for the beautiful and Bti 

 a desire to possess it, as to develop in the true bird of paradise 

 changes of color in different parts of ils plumage busci ptible 

 of variation, and such modification of Iheirplumage 

 permanent satisfaction, and also to develop in the . 

 and other allied species certain powers t . 

 means of which simple primitive impressions may develop 

 into future deeds, creating in them certain powers of reasoning, 

 and thus rendering possible the creation of. products that do 

 not originate in instinct alone, 



he individn al, imil 

 of vegetation; the legs are 

 itO leaf-like fibres j 

 -clesa for I- ■ ., 



'■■-■ insect 1 . 



