118 
BIRD-LIFE. 
instinct to the rank of the supernatural. “ One bee 
builds its cell the same as another, and one silkworm 
spins its cocoon as its fellows,” it is said, and with 
this we seek to explain the workings of instinct, whereas 
we ought first to ask the question whether the bee is 
capable, by reason of its form and the shape of its 
limbs, to do otherwise than carry pollen, and to use this 
in the manner we know it does ; or whether the silkworm 
is capable of spinning a structure different to that spun 
by its progenitors. It is not at all improbable that the 
answer which enquiry at present is not able to give would 
gainsay this. Birds of the same species all build their 
nests in a similar manner. “ Every species,” says 
Naumann, “ has something peculiar in the material 
and formation of its nest, from which the bird never 
deviates, except through dire necessity, and then only 
in occasional instances.” In general this assertion is 
correct: I do not care to cite this in favour of instinct 
more than I formerly have done, for it may be equally 
brought forward as a proof in favour of reason. How 
much the young bird learns from its parents it is difficult 
to say: that it does learn much, however, may well be 
assumed, for the old birds teach their young before our 
very eyes. Why, then, I ask, is the bird not capable of 
building its nest ? That the nest is built in such and 
such a manner, and no other, is partially explained by 
the formation of the beak; that the older mothers build 
better nests than the younger ones has been proved by 
observation; that the latter as well as the former do 
not always rigidly adhere to the same materials is a well- 
known fact. Supported by my own experience, I believe 
it to be quite possible that the bird learns how to build 
its nest partly while still a nestling, and partly from 
