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v THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIRDS' NESTS 111to have been the result of their having been used to such anest. The one thing that remains, and which Mr. Lownethinks proves instinct, is their not forming their nest in thebox they had been accustomed to, and their using sticks andtwigs instead of straw only. But they evidently preferredthe light and air and movement of the branch. That was allin harmony with their special organisation, and was a return tothe habits which were at once the result and the cause of thatorganisation. They preferred to make the nest in this pleasantplace, but they did not know how to begin. As soon as thesticks, lodged by accident, furnished a sufficient base, they carriedup more sticks and soon obtained a rude nest.They sawthat smooth straight twigs dropped to the ground, whereasbranched twigs kept in the branches, and they had quitesense and observation enough to choose the branched twigsfor the purpose. In all this there seems to me to be no proofof the operation of instinct as usually understood, and theexperiment yet requires trying with some of our native birdsthat build elaborate and very distinctive nests, such as thesong-thrush, the gold-crest, the wren or the long-tailed tit. Ifseveral of these could be brought up in strange nests, andthen be turned out into a large wired enclosure containingshrubs and bushes, and if under these circumstances each builtan unmistakable nest of its own species, the nest-buildinginstinct would have to be admitted.The nearest approach to such a test experiment has beenrecently furnished by Mr. Charles Dixon. He states thatsome young chaffinches (Fringilla Ccelebs) were, taken to NewZealand and there turned out.They throve well, and a nestbuilt by a pair of them was photographed, and from this photographthe nest is thus described "by Mr. Dixon : It isevidentlybuilt in the fork of a branch, and shows very little of that neatnessof fabrication for which this bird is noted in England. Thecup of the nest is small, loosely put together, apparently linedwith feathers, and the walls of the structure are prolongedabout eighteen inches and hang loosely down the side of thesupporting branch. The whole structure bears some resemblanceto the nests of the hangnests, with the exception thatthe cavity containing the eggs is situated on the top. Clearlythese New Zealand chaffinches were at a loss for a design