36 Variations in the Nests of the same Species of Birds. | January, 
not prepared to assent without many qualifications. Thus broadly 
stated it is entirely inconsistent with innumerable facts. The 
architectural achievements of very many kinds of birds, their vari- 
ations and their deviations, their skill, their wonderful adaptations 
to varying circumstances, all point to intellectual action much 
higher than a mere blind instinct. The wretched holes, the 
degraded lives, on the other hand, of the Papuans and the 
Australians are surely not evidences of reason, properly so called. 
Their homes are infinitely below those of nearly all the feathered 
tribes, and show no advance. A few years ago it was discovered 
by accident that within fifty years there has been a wonderful 
change in the manner in which the common house martin of 
Europe builds its nest. Formerly their nests were globular in 
shape, with a small rounded opening, hardly large enough to 
admit the parent birds comfortably. Such are all the old nests in 
museums, such the descriptions of all writers, half a century ago. 
These nests were inconvenient, only one bird could come at a time 
to the opening to be fed. Long before the young could leave 
their nest, they must have been uncomfortably crowded in their 
ill-ventilated and close quarters. Some time within the half 
century this entire species has made a great advance and wonder- 
ful changes in the whole style of their nest. Instead of a sphere, 
the nest is simply hollow, semi-oval, roomy, airy and comfortable, 
stronger in its attachments, with increased facilities for access, bet- 
ter protected, both from the rain and from enemies. Unfortunately 
no one observed just when this remarkable change in their archi- 
tecture took place. We know not if it was gradual or sudden, of 3 
how long it was in becoming general. But surely no one can 
pretend that all this was the result of mere instinct! Wallace 
maintains that no bird can succeed in constructing a nest in the 
same manner as its congeners, if it has not first learned their | 
method, either from its own parents or from others of its kind. 
_ From this it would appear that birds brought up in confinement, from _ 
their nests, cannot construct nests like those of their fellows who — 
cy have always been at liberty. Without attempting to decide how 
_ far Wallace’s theory may be well founded, I can give two instances 
that have fallen under my own observation, that have an indirect 
-bearing on the general need of instruction in other things than — 
making a nest. A young cedar bird fell from its nest and was 5° 
severely injured that it never obtained the use of one wing. It 7 
-was fed from the hand and remained wholly dependent on the care — 
pT Se EE ek Ta ie eens Nee eee ae ten ae ee a a 
