ARTISTIC SWALLOWS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The swallows mentioned by Sir W. Beach Thomas's correspondent in South Africa certainly appear to have been highly endowed with artistic instincts, if no other reason could be found for their particular use of white clay in building a portion of their nest, than their " not liking to break the pattern of a double fillet of white paint," upon the wall. There is, however, little or no room for doubt that birds do appre- ciate beauty, and it seems probable that magpies, and some other British birds, which occasionally adorn their nests with scraps of bright cotton or wool, exhibit some trace of that remarkable instinct which is so wonderfully developed in the Australian " Bower Birds.". I think that I have seen it sug- gested that the tiny architects who build such fairy-like structures as the nests of the gold crest and the long tailed tit, may have an aesthetic end in view as well as mere utility ; and if birds can appreciate beauty of colour, as it seems certain that they can, it does not appear to be impossible that they may also have some perception of beauty of texture and
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