! 
April 20, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
611 
ome Bird Ways and their Variations. 
Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, D. 
, April 12. — Editor Forest and Stream: There 
noticeable variation in all forms of life, 
very individual plant or animal of any variety 
■ species whatsoever, has its own unmistakable 
dividuality. These differences may be notice- 
)le in degree only, as' in more or less pubes- 
;nce, leafiness, leaf-serration, color, size, and 
on down to every quality and character of 
e plants in all their parts—organs, tissues and 
■11s. Or the difference may be of a more 
arked sort, concerning the presence or absence 
more definite unit characters. Thus one plant 
is glabrous stems, another pubescent stems; one 
pars punitate leaves, another does not. 
Not only in all plant life, but in all animal 
:e these same phenomena are observable—it is 
universal law of organic forms. It is as true 
function as of structure. It is as manifest 
the mental activities and so-called instincts 
creatures as in their physical make up. 
| Birds are wonderfully interesting creatures 
nth which we are all more or less familiar, 
heir activities are governed largely by marvel- 
is instincts which have predetermined their life 
i a marked degree. To the casual observer 
ese instincts are fixed, unvarying; once deter- 
ined in past ages, in a manner no one knows 
>w, they have persisted without modification in 
ery individual of a class. But this is just as 
I itrue of instincts as it would be of structure, 
f >rm, or coloration in the bird’s body. It is 
ue, however, that as a class, most varieties and 
' >ecies of birds are guided by impulses strik- 
glv alike in each individual of the class. Thus 
1 golden robins ( Icterus galbula Linn.) build 
msile woven nests, all chickadees ( Pams 
! ricapillus Linn.) build in hollows in stumps 
other similar places, all robins ( Merula migra- 
i ria Linn.) use mud in their nest making. A 
ousand other instances of this nature could be 
readily adduced to show this similarity of 
1 ibit characteristic of all the individuals of dif- 
rent classes of birds. But as many more could 
■ obtained to show slight deviations in degree 
om the usual procedure as there are' indi¬ 
duals in the particular class. One is almost 
d to conclude that instincts—meaning those 
edetermined, inborn impulses and activities— 
e just as much definite, stable characters in 
e organization of the bird, as are its eyes, 
gs, feathers or color patterns, and in common 
ith these or any other characters, show varia- 
3n in degree. 
; I he nesting habits of birds—their choice of 
1 tes, their selection and manipulation of certain 
■ aterials in the construction of their nests—is a 
ost fascinating field for observation and inves- 
; lation. In the broad, general features, the 
i ocedure is the same for each species, but with 
ore or less variation in every detail. Many of 
] ese individual differences in the choice of nest- 
g sites and the choice of building material, 
; ow evident adaptation to local conditions. The 
;and the site are an indication of what was 
hand in that locality—what most nearly ap- 
j oached the character of material demanded by 
a certain instinct acting under the most favor¬ 
able conditions. In the vicinity of a dead horse 
or cow, the great, bulky nest of the crow may 
have an almost entirely hair lining. I have 
found several nests of this sort. In the vicinity 
of a mill the nests of those birds usually em¬ 
ploying soft material, will be found composed 
largely of waste materials of various colors and 
qualities. I once found such a nest of the least 
flycatcher ( Empidonax minimus Baird) as I 
judged. It was almost wholly formed of bits 
of variously dyed cotton and wool, twine and 
other waste material with which the premises 
of such mills are littered. 
In the deep woods the chickadee {Parus atri- 
capillus Linn.) lines some old cavity in a stump 
or limb with an abundance of soft moss, feathers 
of wild birds, the hair of animals, and plant 
down—any soft material the woods can afford. 
Such nests frequently contain a great quantity 
of the soft, brown wool of the cinnamon fern 
(Osmunda cinnamomea). The nest is always 
an example of what chickadee impulses demand 
in the line of soft material, and these are a few 
of the things it may pick up in any woods. How 
different the material composing the nest of a 
pair that once built in a hollow cherry tree stump 
only a few yards from our old farm house! 
Cotton, string, hair and feathers of domestic 
creatures, in truth the odds and ends of every¬ 
thing scattered about the place. All they wanted 
was soft material, and this was quite in line 
with their instincts. 
In our orchards the garrulous king bird 
(Tyrannus tyrannus Linn.) usually finds it con¬ 
venient to weave in plenty of white or pink 
twine and bunches of cotton with its usual weed 
stalks, grasses and moss. Several miles away, 
in oaks along the river bank, I found the nest on 
overhanging limbs, often close to the water, and 
composed of material picked up in nearby fields, 
everlasting stems, grasses and rootlets. 
The vireos—what interesting birds! Of what 
varied material their pensile nests are composed! 
Fine strips and shreds of the outer bark of 
birches and other trees, vine tendrils, fine grass, 
pine needles, bits of paper, then an outside finish 
of such unique materials as spider webs, insects’ 
wings, lichens and any other odds and ends 
scattered about the w T oods. While I was attend¬ 
ing the high school during my earlier years, I, 
one day, in connection with some study in 
Grecian history drew a small map of Greece on 
a piece of thin paper. I had intended to carry 
it home, but in passing through a dense brush 
pasture I lost it. It was not till the end of 
summer that my map came to light. A red-eyed 
vireo ( Vireo olivaceus Linn.) had found the 
paper and had managed to get nearly all of it 
neatly woven into its nest, together with its bark, 
grasses and pine needles. 
In our orchards close by our homes the chip¬ 
ping sparrow ( Spizella socialis Wils.) often 
huilds on horizontal limbs far beyond our reach, 
but in rocky pastures I very commonly find its 
nest in small, dense thorn bushes, dwarfed by 
the browsing of cattle. This little bird seems 
to prefer horse hair, largely, for a lining, yet 
it is not uncommon to find nests with a lining 
mostly of fine roots. This study of nest material 
is a most interesting one to every student of 
birds. In the main, the bird’s instinct predeter¬ 
mines material of a certain character, and this 
must, to a certain extent show modification with 
local conditions. 
Many interesting examples of how birds vary 
in this choice of nesting sites are everywhere 
at hand. The swift ( Chcetura pelagica Linn.), 
in thickly settled regions, nests to-day in chim¬ 
neys ; the early naturalists found it nesting in 
hollow trees exclusively, the hollow trees were 
swept aw r ay and the swifts have found it easiest 
to accept our chimneys. I once found the nest 
of a swift in an unused shed, placed against 
the vertical boards at one end just below the 
window opening close to the roof. This sort 
of site is as yet unusual with the swift, a more 
striking deviation from its normal mode of 
building in hollow trees or chimneys. There are 
comparatively few cases on record, yet the essen¬ 
tial traits of the deep-seated instincts of the 
bird’s nature are just as much unchanged in 
the new conditions as are its bill, its feet, or its 
wings. Its instincts demand the subdued light 
of hollows, and a vertical surface to which to 
glue its nest. It finds these characters in hol¬ 
low trees or chimneys or outbuildings, and in 
whichever site, its nest is the usual bracket affair 
of sticks held together by the glutinous secre¬ 
tions of the bird. 
Civilization has brought about many modifica¬ 
tions in the nesting habits of our birds. The 
robin, the peewee, the barn and cliff swallows, 
did not always build in or on the outside of 
our barns and outbuildings. It seems about as 
common to find the nest of the robin ( Merula 
migratoria Linn.) on some projecting beam end 
or any convenient shelf in outbuildings, as to 
find it under more natural conditions in trees. 
The bird does not usually build high from the 
ground, and often prefers a fork in a large, 
horizontal limb. I have found many nests in 
young white pines close against the trunk on 
the convenient shelf formed by the whorls of 
branches. In those sites in our outbuildings it 
evidently finds something in common with its 
natural conditions in trees. No matter what the 
site may be it rigidly adheres to more or less 
mud, grass, leaves and plant stems as it has done 
for generations in the past. 
The familiar peewee ( Sayornis phcebe Lath.) 
' shows great variation in its choice of nesting 
sites. I have found the nest placed in a niche 
formed by the interlacing roots of a big. up¬ 
turned tree, on a shelf under a sand bank, on 
cliffs, under bridges of every description, and 
on any convenient shelf, beam or rafter in out¬ 
buildings. The pair that built in the sand bank, 
just beneath the overhanging surface of inter¬ 
lacing roots, grasses and leaves, showed very 
little judgment concerning the future safety of 
the nest. It was in plain view by the roadside, 
and set in a bank of the most friable sand. The 
nest early came to grief, and is an illustration 
of the disastrous consequences often following 
a full play of instinct unaided by reason. 
The bam swallow (Chelidon erythrogaster 
Bodd.) has become closely associated with our 
country life throughout the land. We learn that 
the natural breeding places of these lovable birds 
were caves, rocky cliffs, and other such pro¬ 
tected situations. In the less thickly settled 
portions of our country to-day such sites are 
utilized by these swallows. Our barns and sheds 
have proved very acceptable to them, and in 
many instances there are numerous nests under 
the same roof, placed on the ends of shorter 
rafters or saddled closely against them. Mud 
pellets intermingled with straw, and a lining of 
soft grasses and feathers make up the nest in 
nearly all situations. 
The cliff swallow (Pctrochelidon lunifrons 
Say.) usually builds beneath the jutting eaves 
of our barns and sheds. There seems to be con¬ 
siderable variation in the shape of the unique 
nests of these birds. I remember several nests 
beneath the eaves of a barn near my home, hav¬ 
ing a distinct retort shape, and well roofed 
against the weather. Other nests lack this pro¬ 
nounced shape to a great degree. This interest¬ 
ing swallow, in its movements over the country 
at large, has proved an unsolved problem to all 
ornithologists. Its sudden appearances at var¬ 
ious points over the country hint at migrations 
li 
