Dixon : A Few Remarks on Protective Instinct. 133 



birds are sitting upon their eggs, discovery is almost impossible. 

 The red grouse, when sitting, so closely resembles the moor- 

 land vegetation around, that the finding of her treasure is 

 due more to accident than design ; and well does the parent 

 bird know in what direction safety lies, and unerringly does she 

 adhere to it. The terns and most shore birds, impelled by the same 

 protective instinct, deposit their eggs only upon those portions of the 

 beach which display the same tints as they do. In this manner 

 numerous instances might be brought forth as examples, but, as I 

 have previously stated, the remarks upon this somewhat lengthy 

 subject must of necessity be somewhat brief. We will now, therefore, 

 glance at the next division. 



Mimicry. — This peculiar form of instinct is closely allied to the 

 preceding one, and if it were not for a few incidents peculiar only to 

 this division, it would be difficult to distinguish more than a slight 

 difference between them. One of the first birds gifted with this 

 instinct is the gay little chaffinch. Observe how closely she imitates 

 the surroundings in the structure of her nest, how beautifully it is 

 silvered over with lichen, or if on the rugged bark of a tree covered with 

 similar material. If in the centre of a glossy evergreen, lichens are 

 discarded, and bright shining green moss substitated in their place. If 

 in the centre of a hawthorn, bedecked with fair and beautiful flowers, 

 protective instinct impels her to gild her handiwork with small scraps 

 of paper, so that, to a casual eye, the whole structure, imitating as it 

 does the flowers around, appears a tangled mass of bloom. How art- 

 fully does the water ouzel imitate the colour of surrounding objects, 

 her nest being invariably placed near a running stream, amongst the 

 brightest moss, composed of similar material ; the dampness of the 

 situation keeping them in all their verdant beauty, and thus con- 

 cealing the nest of the bird, whose protective instinct lies in utilising 

 them for her purpose. The beautiful nest of the long-tailed titmouse 

 is again an instance of this protective instinct, and so is that of the 

 wren. The robin also finds safety under its banner, and the delicately 

 formed gold crest assimilates her nest to surrounding circumstances 

 by weaving the branches of the fir amongst moss of the same colour, 

 the whole appearing to a careless eye nothing but a mass of foliage. 

 And then how beautifully do the sombre greens of the little dunnock's 

 iiest contrast with the colours of the vernal year, around. In all 

 these cases how artfully and well, the little architects use to the best 

 advantage, those materials which their unerring instinct leads them 

 to make use of for the welfare of their young. 



