THE CONGREGATION OF BIRDS 



Nothing in the winter life of birds is more 

 striking than their gregarious habits in that 

 season ; those which were sociable already, like 

 the starlings, become more so, and those which 

 in summer prefer to keep their nearest neigh- 

 bours at a good deal more than arm's length, 

 like the lapwings, have laid aside their differ- 

 ences for the time being, and feed and move 

 in company. Of course there remain a few 

 irreconcileables — the robin, the friend of man 

 and the enemy of pretty nearly every one else ; 

 the blackbird, well named by the Romans merula, 

 "the little solitary"; the hermit woodpecker, 

 and so forth ; but, on the whole, winter is for 

 the birds a time for social relaxation. And 

 this is the case not only in cold climates where 

 winter means biting chills and long periods of 

 semi-starvation, but also in those more favoured 

 lands where earth and water do not become 

 alike impenetrable to hungry bills, and where 

 vegetable and insect life do not stagnate for 

 well-nigh half the year. The migrating wild- 

 fowl which cross the Himalayas to winter in 



India are just as gregarious on Eastern jheels 



199 



