298 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



himself by pouring out a series of prolonged sharp 

 scolding notes. These ended, the two birds started 

 quietly feeding together. 



In the promiscuous gatherings one cannot but 

 observe that although they all meet and mix in an 

 easy friendly manner there is yet a great difference in 

 their dispositions and in their ideas about fun, if it 

 be permissible to put it in that way. In some of the 

 most social species, small shore birds, starlings and 

 rooks, for instance, their games are mostly among 

 themselves and are quite harmless although there 

 is often a pretence of anger. That is part of the game, 

 just as it is with kittens and with children. The gulls 

 mix but do not affiliate with the others and play no 

 tricks on their neighbours, like the crow, just for 

 mischief's sake. They want something more sub- 

 stantial. They must have it out of someone, and it is* 

 usually the pewit. He, the gull, flies about in a 

 somewhat aimless way, then drops down among 

 them to rest on the turf or walks about curiously 

 inspecting the grass, perhaps wondering what the 

 mysterious sense or faculty of the rook and starling 

 is by means of which they know just which individual 

 grass among a hundred grasses contains a grub in its 

 roots — a fat morsel which may be unearthed by a 

 thrust of the beak. The grass tells him nothing and 

 in the end he finds it more profitable to watch the 

 other probers at work. He sidles up in a casual manner 

 to the pewit, pretending all the time to be honestly 

 seeking for something himself, but watching the 

 other's motions very keenly, to be ready at the 



