942 The American Naturalist. [November, 
at the hare, but hisjump fell short, and the hare bounded away 
in safety. And then the jay-bird seemed to be fairly overcome 
with delight. He trounced himself up and down, screaming 
with sarcastic laughter. He seemed to be jeering and ridicul- 
ing the cat to his fullest extent, and the cat seemed to under- 
stand him. He dropped his tail and disappeared in the 
bushes. The jay uttered one last note of derision and then 
flew away. 
I once saw a very young cockerel come up behind an elderly 
hen and suddenly embrace her. When she discovered the 
youth of her assailant, her surprise, indignation and wrath 
was perfectly apparent and very laughable. Birds show a 
distinct individuality in nest building. No two pair of birds, 
even of the same species, build nests alike. To the casual 
observer they appear alike, but to the careful and experienced 
nest hunter, there is a marked originality in each nest. The 
general forms are the same, but each pair of architects leave 
the impress of individual genius on their particular nest. 
Three pairs of cardinals have been nesting in my garden for 
several years. If shown the nest, I can tell the pair of birds 
which built it. Wallace gives an instance of original nest 
building. Several pairs of bullfinches were taken to Australia 
when quite young. When they came to build their nests, 
they built them totally unlike those of the English bullfinch. 
They were long and round, like those of the oriole, only the 
entrance was at the bottom. Some birds have developed 
eesthetic feeling and have a well marked love for the beautiful. 
Certain humming birds decorate their nests with beautiful 
pieces of lichen which they fasten on the outside. Feathers 
and various colored mosses are used for the same purpose.” 
Darwin asserts that the curious structures of the bower 
birds are pleasure houses, built by the birds for their own 
amusement and sports." These bowers are not nests and 
are never continuously occupied by the birds. The nests are 
built in the jungle some distance from the bowers. "The birds 
HA. R. Wallace: Darwinism. 
%Gould: Birds of Australia, Vol. I, p. 442. 
Darwin: Descent of Man, pp. 92, 406. 
