MUTUAL AID AMONGST ANIMALS. 7 



by sipping: Avliiskey or other spirits, and then they become very 

 antagonistic to each other. When they live in a hive near to 

 a sugar-factory, where they can find plenty of syrup, they lose 

 the habits of -work, and begin living by plundering other nests. 

 However, natural selection comes in here and eventually cuts oif 

 the generation of those individuals which abandon the life of 

 common work and mutual support. 



When there is mutual support amongst the Invertebrata it is 

 said to be instinct, and no consciousness is thought to exist, but 

 there is also plenty of mutual support amongst the higher animals 

 as well. 



A few examples from the life of birds will show best to what 

 extent they mutually support each other. Birds seldom go about 

 alone ; they are always to be seen in numbers ; and mutual aid and 

 friendship are ever to be observed in their doings. They thus 

 accomplish many things which they could not otherwise do. We 

 find mutual support even among the Haptores. Syevertsoil, the 

 well-known ornithologist of Russia, mentions that he once saw five 

 large white eagles soaring in the air at certain distances apart. 

 As soon as one of them had discovered something which was good 

 to eat, such as carrion, he descended, and immediately every one of 

 the other eagles also descended to the same place, and soon there 

 might be seen ten or twenty of the same species of eagle feeding 

 upon the carrion, while thousands of other birds stood near waiting 

 to take their turn. When such a feast is going on there is always 

 one eagle keeping watch as a sentinel until the others have finished 

 their meal. There are many cases of this kind in which there can 

 be no possibility of a mistake. 



The kites and vultures are continually going together in associa- 

 tions for hunting ; they not only hunt by themselves, but as soon 

 as they see an eagle which has something good to eat, they rush at 

 it and take away the prey. The eagle is the larger and stronger 

 of the two species, but the kites coming together, little birds as 

 they are in comparison with the eagle, they attack it and take 

 away its food. The kites of Brazil may be found continually in 

 associations of six or seven. Certain vultures are well known 

 for their admirable capacities for association. These are the most 

 sociable birds of their tribe, and may constantly be found living 

 by two or three families in the same nest, the female birds sitting 

 in turn upon the eggs. This has so often been observed that it 

 has caused one species of the vulture to be called Sociable. Many 

 species of hawks have the same character. They may frequently 



