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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
IS NEST-BUILDIN Gr AN INSTINCT IN BIRDS? 
By BENJAMIN T. LOWNE, E.L.S. 
M R. ALFRED R. WALLACE, in his contributions to the 
theory of natural selection, has an essay on the philosophy 
of birds’ nests, in which he controverts the doctrine, which he 
admits to be almost universally held, that birds build their 
nests by instinct ; and he believes that both birds and men, in 
a primitive state, build by imitation. He says, tfi It will be 
objected, that birds do not learn to make their nests as man 
does to build, for all birds will make exactly the same nest as 
the rest of their species, even if they have never seen one, and 
it is instinct alone that can enable them to do this. No doubt 
this would be instinct, if it were true, and I simply ask for proof 
of the fact ; this point, although so important to the question 
at issue, is always assumed without proof, and even against 
proof, for what facts there are are opposed to it. Birds brought 
up from the egg in cages do not make the characteristic nest of 
their species, even though the proper materials are supplied to 
them, and often make no nest at all ; but rudely heap together 
a quantity of materials : and the experiment has never been 
fairly tried of turning out a pair of birds so brought up into an 
enclosure, covered with netting, and watching the result of their 
untaught attempts at nest making.” 
I have lately had the opportunity of making the experiment, 
which Mr. Wallace states has never been fairly made ; and much 
to my surprise, for a year ago I fully believed Mr. Wallace was 
right, the results are at complete variance with the opinion 
which Mr. Wallace has promulgated upon this subject. I will 
give the details of my experiment in full, reserving all comment 
until I have done so. 
Last spring I received a pair of young ring-doves ( Columba, 
risoria), in their first plumage, which had been hatched in the 
breeding-box of an ordinary dove’s cage, upon a straw nest built 
on the floor of the cage. These were a male and a female ; but 
at the time I received them they were so young that I came to 
