SIDE lylGHTS ON BIRDS 



South America that injured her wing and so was 

 unable to join the others on the annual migration. 

 When observed, she had set out on foot on her 

 journey of thousands of miles, a destination she 

 could never hope to reach — still closely attended 

 by her mate, strong- winged himself but faithful 

 to the end. 



In this connection a word may be said in regard 

 to the comradeship of birds, apart from the tie of 

 sex. There is a certain difference in the affini- 

 ties or links of affection that bind birds together. 

 In many species these bonds appear to be non- 

 existent : in others, they are stronger than death. 

 Most species show some distress when their nest- 

 lings are in danger, and many will risk life in their 

 defence, but it is not the parental instinct, so 

 wonderfully and almost universally exhibited in 

 wild life, that we have at the moment in mind. 

 It is rather what may be described as a spirit of 

 comradeship. It is somewhat singular that 

 waterfowl, or at any rate birds most closely as- 

 sociated with water, seem to possess this spirit, 

 and that it has been denied altogether to so many 

 land birds. 



Curiously enough it is more marked in birds 

 that appear to meet together in chance gatherings 

 and soon separate, as kittiwakes and terns may be 

 seen to do, than in coveys of partridges and packs 

 of grouse where the communal idea is most strongly 

 in evidence. 



Partridges, devoted as they are to their little 

 ones, and leading a close communal life, lose all 

 thought of their fellows in the moment of panic. 

 You may shoot partridges, grouse, or pheasants 

 all day, but no uninjured member of the pack or 

 covey hesitates for a moment in its direct flight 

 to safety, to turn to see how its fallen brother is 

 faring. 



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