Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/303

Rh Martin, two seen on April 4th.— (Flaxley, 82, Finchley Road, N.W.).

Inherited Instinct in Birds.—It has been asserted, without a shadow of real evidence to support the statement, that birds build their nests by imitation, and that the reason why many of them at the commencement of the season trifle with building material for some time before they produce a satisfactory structure is that they are unable at once to remember exactly what the character of the nest was in which they first saw the light of day. In 'British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs,' now in course of publication, I pointed out that young birds never really see the more complex part of the nest, inasmuch as their vision is mainly confined to the lining (which is moulded into form in the most primitive fashion); and in direct proof of the fact that birds do not build by imitation, I recorded the fact that in 1895 and 1896 different hen Canaries, reared in the usual square box of a London breeding-cage, were turned loose in aviaries in which no typical finch-like nest existed, and, after the lapse of about three hundred years, reproduced nests nearly resembling those of their wild ancestors. This year a still more convincing proof of the instinctive building habit in birds has been given. I turned loose a Canary, also cage-bred, in one of my aviaries, late in April. The bird, without my knowledge, took possession of a square box hung high up on the wirework, and had almost completed a nest therein, when I lifted the box down to see whether any bird had made use of it. Although I hung up the box again, the Canary deserted it, and commenced at once to build an elaborate cup-shaped nest in a dead bush. In three days this nest was completed; the following day she began to lay, and deposited five eggs, upon which (as I write) she is sitting steadily. On the other hand, Goldfinches and other birds reared out-of-doors take possession of cages and boxes in which to nest when in captivity.— (124, Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent).

Bull-dog Variety of the Sapphirine Gurnard at Great Yarmouth.—During the middle of May an unusual number of Gurnards were brought to the fish-wharf by local trawlers. The Sapphirine Gurnard, or Tub-fish, Trigla hirundo (local, Latchet), was exceptionally plentiful, and ran to a very large size. In one instance I saw a specimen very prettily mottled with a fine bluish network of markings. The pectoral fins were barred very like those of Trigla lineata. On May 18th a sixteen-inch example was brought to me, exhibiting the peculiar characteristics which have been noticed in several species, and which have gained for that abnormality the title of "bull-dog variety." The "latchet" had a head-piece that had the appearance of