A WOOD BY THE SEA 63 



from the vvofxl, not even a tliriish that feeds latest, on 

 all the marsh ; they were all at roost, and it was impos- 

 sible not to believe that these two were friends, accus- 

 tomed to meet at that spot and feed together ; that when 

 I first spied the pheasant, standing in that listless atti- 

 tude after all his fellows had gone, he was waiting for 

 his little black comrade and would not have his supper 

 without him. 



It was getting dark when the blackbird at length flew 

 off to the wood, and at once the pheasant, with head 

 up, began walking in the same direction; then running 

 and soon launching himself on the air he flew straight 

 into the pines. 



My experience is that friendships between bird and 

 bird, if the preference of two individuals for each other's 

 company can be described by that word, is not at all 

 uncommon, though I usually find that gamekeepers 

 "don't quite seem to see it." That is only natural in 

 their case; it is but a reflex effect of the gim in the 

 hand on the keeper's mind. Yet one of the keepers on 

 the estate, to whom I related this incident, although 

 inclined to shake his head, told me he had observed a 

 ringed dotterel and a redshank keeping company for 

 a space of two or three months last year. It was im- 

 possible not to see, he said, what close friends they 

 were, as they invariably went together even when feed- 

 ing with other shore birds. It is a thing we notice 

 sometimes when the companionship is between two birds 

 of different species, but it is probable that it is far 

 more common among those of the same species, and 



