File:Bird lore (1903) (14564362067).jpg

Identifier: birdlore51903nati (find matches)
Title: Bird lore
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals National Audubon Society
Subjects: Birds Birds Ornithology
Publisher: New York City : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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locality, doubtlessaccounts for the comparatively limited amount of correct information onthis subject, and creates a correspondingly wide field for investigation. The character of birds nests, from the architectural point of view, „, ^ may differ greatly even when the material of which they Lharacter of , ■ , -m r i i • i , ,_ are composed is the same. i he structure of the bird, or the JNests in other words, the tools with which it is provided, does not often govern the type of home which it will build. A Swallow, it is true, How to Study Birds 91 could not fashion a Woodpeckers dwelling; but a momentary comparisonof the widely different kinds of nests built by Swallows and Swifts(which, so far as nesting tools are concerned, may be classed with Swal-lows) readily shows how little the structure of the bird has to do withnest architecture. By far the most important factor governing the character of a birdsnest is the condition of its young at birth. Indeed, in considering this
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SIMPLE NEST OF KILLDEER, A PR^COCIAL BIRD (Meridian, N. Y.. June 7, 1898) question we are brought very near to an attempt to determine the originof birds nests. In a rough classification we may place birds in two groups: first,those whose young leave the nest the day they are hatched; second,those whose young are reared in the nest. Birds of the first class aretermed praecocial; those of the second, altricial. Compare the newlyhatched young of a Grouse with those of a Robin, and we have twoadmirable examples of praecocialism and altricialism. 92 Bird-Lore All praecocial birds are hatched with a growth of downy featherswhich, when they are dry, practically cover their body.Most altricial birds are born essentially naked and do notleave the nest until they have acquired the nestling orJuvenal plumage. There are, however, numerous excep-tions to this statement. For example, many species of the family Alcidae(Puffins, Murrelets, etc.), the Petrels, Herons, Hawks and Owls are Condition ofY

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