280 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
in the case of the weaver- bird of India {Ploceus hay a). It is 
very social in habits, and builds in societies ; but its very con- 
spicuous and elaborately constructed purse-shaped nest would 
fall an easy prey to enemies did not the little architect, with 
surprising intelligence, place it in situations not easily acces- 
sible : hence several may be seen suspended from the tips of 
bran«hes overhanging deep wells, or from the top branches of 
acacia and other thorny trees. 
Many such examples might be furnished, indicating powers of 
reasoning. One of the most intelligent, at the same time finest 
songsters of North America, is the Brown Thrush {Turdus 
rufus). This bird is extremely pugnacious during the breed- 
ing season, and attacks all intruders on its haunts ; even snakes 
are assailed ; and should two males be engaged, they will suspend 
hostilities at once, and join in alliance against the common foe. 
Among other traits in an individual reared from the nest, was a 
habit of immersing dried crusts of bread in water so as to soften 
them ; it also carefully removed the poison of wasps before swal- 
lowing them.* 
A sense of the beautiful is surely present when the peacock 
displays his gorgeous attire before the hen, or when the chaf- 
finch spreads out its wings in order to show off the rich colour- 
ings of his upper parts. The battling and rivalry among the 
males at the commencement of the breeding season, all show 
that the pairing of birds is not altogether futuitous. Sometimes 
it would appear that the female makes a choice ; in other in- 
stances, that she is won by the stronger male driving away the 
weaker ; and, perhaps in very many cases, the pairing is acci- 
dental ; at all events it is the season when the passions and men- 
tal powers of birds are at their highest. 
The facts, in relation to carrier-pigeons finding their homes, 
after many months’ absence, and swifts and swallows returning 
to the same nest for several years in succession, indicate, as will 
be noticed presently, that birds possess remarkable powers of 
memory and perception. But the mental powers of birds are 
extremely various, and even this is the case with species, indi- 
viduals of which excel others in intelligence. There are indi- 
vidual nightingales, canaries, goldfinches, and thrushes, more 
easily tamed and taught than others, whilst in nature there are 
single instances of song-birds who excel their compeers in the 
richness and melody of their notes. Some male birds display 
their attractions more efficaciously before the female at wooing 
times ; and in a flock of wild cranes, for example, there are, just 
as in a herd of ibexes, a few leaders who guide the flock and 
are the first to signal the approach of an enemy — all these 
* The Zoological Survey of the State of Massachusetts,” p. 30. 
