CAN AND DO BIRDS REASON? 331 



as this was a device quite foreign to the natural habits of the 

 bird, and only hit upon after the repeated failure of its ordinary 

 method of nest-building, the curious adaptation of means to ends 

 which it displayed can scarcely be regarded in any other light 

 than as proceeding from a design in the minds of the individuals 

 who executed it." 



Just another example of means to an end in nest-building 

 before passing on. In ' Science Gossip ' (vol. v. p. 363), Mr. 

 W. W. Midgley contributed a note on a remarkable Song- 

 Thrush's nest. This nest was built in a fir tree (Pinus cembra), 

 in a position exposed to the full force of south-westerly winds. 

 It was constructed in the usual fashion plus something extra. 

 " Utilizing the dead stalks of last season's nettles, with bill and 

 claws they had fastened the ends into the nest and round the 

 trunk of the tree, again fastening the other ends into the nest. 

 Still further to guard against the equinoctial gales, they had 

 selected two of the largest stalks, slung them round the trunk 

 at the nodes, about fifteen inches above the nest, and wove the 

 ends into the sides of the nest so as to stay it." The birds had 

 learnt by experience that unless some special precautions were 

 taken their nest would be overturned by the first gale. They 

 were gifted with sufficient intelligence to reason out the best 

 method of averting an almost certain disaster. " If the birds 

 had ' sense ' enough to safeguard their nest, why did they not 

 use the same 'sense' and remove to a safer situation?" I hear 

 someone ask. I can only reply that birds much resemble human 

 beings who develop an attachment for some thing or person ; 

 this attachment causes them much embarrassment, and compels 

 them to perform certain acts hitherto unthought of. Neverthe- 

 less, not for worlds would they break that attachment. Our 

 feathered friends and ourselves have an inexplicable bias in our 

 natures — "pure cussedness " the Americans call it. 



Why is it practically impossible to poison town-bred Spar- 

 rows ? A few young birds sometimes fall victims, but very 

 rarely indeed an old one. Is it "instinct" or "intelligence" 

 that tells them that grain strewn promiscuously on the ground 

 is not safe food ? Many may say they have learnt by " experi- 

 ence," which implies they are endowed with something more than 

 the mere blind "instinct," which some would have us believe was 



