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AESTHETICS AT THE ZOO. 
THE ANIMAL SENSE OF BEAUTY. 
That sense of beauty to which the gorgeous plumage 
of the male birds in many species is an obvious and 
direct appeal, is by no means limited to the knowledge 
so naively shown by resplendent husbands and adoring 
wives, that fine feathers make fine birds. So common 
and varied is the pleasure derived from this sense, that 
in many kinds it extends to the conscious search for 
and appliance of beautiful objects in the decoration of 
nests, of pleasure-houses, and the enrichment of collec- 
tions. This taste for ornament is by no means limited 
to birds kept in captivity, in which they often learn 
tricks and habits foreign to their nature, from ennui and 
idleness. In the freedom of English woods or Papuan 
jungles, they show the keenest pleasure in the strange 
or beautiful shapes and colours of flowers, of feathers, 
of fruits, of gay shells and insects, of woven fabrics, of 
metal, glass, and gems; and similar tastes shown in 
captivity are often but the survival and maimed re- 
production of their natural love for surrounding them- 
selves with what pleases the eye. It appears in species 
