ON STUDYING THE HABITS OF BIRDS. 
45 
I have entered thus minutely into the preceding point in order 
to show how careful one should be not to jump to hasty conclusions, 
and also to show that something may be learned by watching how 
the same birds will build when subjected to varied conditions. 
Moreover, it is healthy exercise for your brain to ask yourself why 
these things are so. Why, for instance, does a Goldfinch when 
in an aviary like to build on the floor of a small suspended cage 
with a limited entrance passage in front ? I think it is because 
in his wild state he prefers a solid basis for his nest, such as the 
lichen-covered branch of a tree, although he sometimes builds in a 
dense, many-branched portion of a hawthorn hedge, where the 
support is almost as solid, or he may build in more open branches; 
then, I think he prefers a small doorway, because it is easily 
defended against intruders. It is quite a mistake to suppose that 
birds do not think, for undoubtedly they do. 
Another matter worth noting and recording is the history of 
the young bird. It is astonishing how little is known generally 
about birds in their nests. Keep a careful record of the colour- 
ing and number of the eggs, if possible, the duration of incubation, 
the appearance of the new-born chicks, the colouring of the nestling 
plumage, the time when the young leave the nest, how long they 
are before feeding themselves, how the parents feed them, the age 
at which the adult plumage is acquired ; until all this is recorded 
the history of the young has not been mastered. 
It has been stated that if you examine a nest the parents will 
desert it; and it is asked, How, then, can we record all the 
necessary details ? It is true that with some buds you do run a 
risk, but with many you do not. Supposing that you examine 
a nest and discover a completed clutch of eggs, and then the birds 
desert it; you have, at anyrate, recorded the number; you can 
describe the colouring ; you can even blow the eggs and preserve 
them for a collection. So much is gained, and the chances are that 
your birds will soon go to nest again, and you can let them alone 
that time and pay attention to something else. Some birds, 
however, do not desei’t their nests, even if you take the young in 
your hand, clean out the nest-box, put in fresh material, and 
replace the young.* 
When one reflects, it becomes evident that the man who never 
comes in contact with living birds, but devotes the whole of his 
time to the study and description of bird skins, must depend upon 
the statements of field naturalists and collectors for descriptions of 
the soft parts, inasmuch as they entirely alter their colouring and 
character after death ; even the tints of the plumage change greatly 
in many birds. This, then, is one of the points which the avicul- 
turist can throw much light upon, whether he keeps his birds in 
cage or aviary. 
It is astonishing to find many of the most familiar birds 
* Mr. Farrar has laughed at this statement, which I published elsewhere ; 
but it is none the less a fact, as he could discover if he would put it to the test. 
