. The home life of wild birds; a new method of the study and photography of birds. Birds; Photography of birds. Wild Birds. thus normally completing one term of the series before passing to the next in sequence. The machinery, however, rarely works with absolute precision. Perturbations are sure to arise whenever a contrary impulse comes into the field, and either blocks the path or struggles for supremacy. The surge of parental feeling is often marked by an inbred pugnacity, which begins to show itself in certain species at the very beginning of the breeding season. This fighting mood, which
. The home life of wild birds; a new method of the study and photography of birds. Birds; Photography of birds. Wild Birds. thus normally completing one term of the series before passing to the next in sequence. The machinery, however, rarely works with absolute precision. Perturbations are sure to arise whenever a contrary impulse comes into the field, and either blocks the path or struggles for supremacy. The surge of parental feeling is often marked by an inbred pugnacity, which begins to show itself in certain species at the very beginning of the breeding season. This fighting mood, which is an adaptation for the protec- tion of the home and all that it con- tains, is by no means a measure of the other parental impulses. It has a gradual rise, reaches a maximum when the young are ready to leave the nest, at a time when protection is most needed, and then gradually sub- sides. When a pair are robbed during the breeding season, or in any way disturbed in mind or property, three courses are open to them, either to desert and begin operations anew, to stay by the nest and save what is left, or, having done this, to fill up the gap by laying more eggs. The course eventually followed depends upon the nature of the bird, or upon the relative strength of fear, the parental instincts, and habit. The parental instinct,' reiinforced by habit, gradually increases until the young are reared. It is therefore safest to change the nesting surroundings when this instinct is approaching its culmination. The general feeling of fear is gradually or quickly suppressed according to the value of the different factors in the equation, by the parental instinct, which impels a bird at all hazards to go to its young wherever placed. This impulse though it be weak at first, is strengthened by exercise, or what amounts to the same thing,— by the growth of habits or associations. After a bird once visits the nest in its new position, it returns again and again, and in proportion as its vis
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1901
