Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/396

368 study of their variable markings and a consideration of their feeble reproductive powers, I am strongly inclined to support. How long ago Bengalees were first produced it is impossible to say, for the Japs certainly kept and reared birds long before aviculture was thought of in Europe; but it is certain that, from the first development of this pseudo-species, small cages only were used in which to breed them. A year or two ago, finding that a large consignment of these birds had arrived in London, I purchased some of each of the three varieties, and kept them in three separate flight-cages, supplying them with Hartz Canary cages hung high up, in which to build. From the "pure-bred" Bengalees I reared only two or three young in as many years, but from Bengalee and Striated Finch I reared five in one season, all of which are still living. This year, finding that none of my Bengalees were doing any good, I turned out the whole of them into one of my largest aviaries. Here they at first took possession of Hartz Canary cages as before, and began to build in the usual slovenly fashion; they were, however, constantly disturbed by other small finches desirous of occupying the same receptacles. One day in July I collected a large handful of flowering grasses—a very favourite food with all small finches—and flung it into the aviary, where it was immediately covered by a crowd of little birds. The Bengalees, however, as if recognizing this as the natural building material of their ancestors, flew off with it stem by stem to a small bush, where they constructed a neatly domed typical Mannikin's nest, with the usual circular opening in front. In this nest one egg was deposited, and then some other birds began to pull the domed portion to pieces for their own use; nevertheless these little Mannikins persevered, repairing the nest whenever fresh grasses were supplied to them. Now I think all candid readers must admit that when birds which were reared in a small cage within a cage, and whose ancestors were so reared for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years, can at any given moment exactly reproduce the typical nest of their remote wild ancestors without any model whatever to guide them, it is absolutely certain that the laws regulating their method of building are inherent in their natures, and not acquired. The aviculturist has proofs before him almost every day that birds do not build by imitation, for wild-caught birds, unless turned out into enormous garden aviaries, generally depart at once from their usual habits, building in boxes and cages in preference to bushes and twigs. On the other hand, Canaries and Bengalees, having for centuries been bred in cages, are stimulated by the comparative freedom of a large aviary, and the rebound causes them to reproduce the homes of their wild ancestors. At any rate, I see no other reason why they should ever return to their natural method.— (124, Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent).