WAYS OF NATURE 



ing itself in its fury to demolish its supposed rival! 

 Yet I have often witnessed this little comedy. It is 

 another instance of how the arts of our civilization 

 corrupt and confuse the birds. It may be that in the 

 course of many generations the knowledge of glass 

 will get into their blood, and they will cease to be 

 fooled by it, as they may also in time learn what a 

 poor foundation the newspaper is to build upon. 

 The ant or the bee could not be fooled by the glass 

 in that way for a moment. 



Have the birds and our other wild neighbors 

 sense, as distinguished from instinct ? Is a change 

 of habits to meet new conditions, or the taking 

 advantage of accidental circumstances, an evidence 

 of sense ? How many birds appear to have taken 

 advantage of the protection aflForded by man in 

 building their nests! How many of them build 

 near paths and along roadsides, to say nothing of 

 those that come close to our dwellings ! Even the 

 quail seems to prefer the borders of the highway 

 to the open fields. I have chanced upon only three 

 quails' nests, and these were all by the roadside. 

 One season a scarlet tanager that had failed with 

 her first nest in the woods came to try again in a 

 little cherry tree that stood in the open, a few feet 

 from my cabin, where I could almost touch the nest 

 with my hand as I passed. But in my absence she 

 again came to grief, some marauder, probably a 

 red squirrel, taking her eggs. Will her failure in 

 6 



