8 PEINCE KKOPOTKIN ANNIVEESAEY ADDEESS : 



be seen enjoying sports together, for they not only go together for 

 utilitarian purposes, but also for enjoyment. They delight in 

 sharing the joys of life together. 



Some of the hawks and kestrels enjoy similar social sports. 

 Several of them go out together in one direction, and having 

 flown straight for a distance they return. They are continually 

 indulging in this kind of sport, but always in company, never 

 singly. The little Egyptian vultures live in such close friendship 

 with each other that the zoologists who have described them say 

 that they have never seen them quarrel. The hawks, also, and 

 especially the Brazilian falcons, are noted for their sociability. 



There are species of birds which are in decay. "Which are 

 these ? Syevertsoff, who was one of the best ornithologists, did not 

 hesitate in sayiug that they are the species which lack sociability, 

 living in antagonism to each other. The sociable species, on the 

 other hand, are on the increase. It may be asked how it can be 

 ascertained whether a species is on the increase or is decreasing. 

 There is no census, but there is something which bi'ings the know- 

 ledge. When a species has a great number of varieties, then we 

 may be sure that it is on the increase, and not only increasing in 

 numbers, but also spreading its territories ; but if a species has no 

 varieties, or if a genus is represented by only a single species, then 

 may we be sure that this species, or this genus, is in a condition 

 of decay and likely to die out. It is the sociable animals which are 

 increasing, for they are represented by numerous varieties, while 

 the unsociable animals are only represented by a few. This 

 difference between the sociable and the unsociable species of the 

 Raptores is especially striking. 



The pelicans offer another instance of sociability. They have 

 large fishery associations ; they live by forty or fifty thousand 

 together in America ; they continually hunt in association. Having 

 made a half-circle from the shore, surrounding the fish, they 

 gradually come together, closing in the half-circle, and they thus 

 secure the fish. They work exactly as a man would work with 

 a net, which he would gradually draw towards the shore, reducing 

 the space between the net and the shore. Every night these 

 pelicans return to their own place, never quarrelling for the 

 possession of it ; every fiock and division has its own home, 

 returning to the same place night after night, and keeping posses- 

 sion of it for years and years. 



The sparrows have a very bad reputation amongst English farmers, 

 but their sociability lies beyond doubt. You know the Greek 



