THE ROSY STARLING IQS 



old man, and not afraid to express his feelings. He 

 looked me up and down with eyes filled with withering 

 contempt, and said " What do you take me for ? Am I 

 a sahib, that I should waste powder and shot on flying 

 things ? I never fire unless I think that by so doing 

 I am likely to bring down at least six birds." 



It is impossible to watch a flock of jowaree 

 birds without being struck by what I may perhaps 

 term their corporate action, the manner in which 

 they act in unison, as though they were well- 

 drilled soldiers obeying the commands of their officer. 

 This phenomenon is observable in most species of 

 sociable birds, but, so far as I am aware, no ornitho- 

 logist, save Mr. Edmund Selous, has paid much 

 attention to the matter, or attempted to explain it. 

 To illustrate. A flock of rosy starlings will be sitting 

 motionless in a tree giving vent to their twittering 

 notes, when suddenly, without any apparent cause, 

 the whole flock will take to its wings simultaneously, 

 as if actuated by one motive, nay, as if it were one 

 composite individual. Again, a flock will be moving 

 along at great speed, when suddenly the whole company 

 will make a half -turn, and continue the flight in another 

 direction. Yet again, a number of rosy starlings will 

 be speeding through the air when six or seven of them, 

 suddenly and simultaneously, change the direction of 

 their flight, and thus form, as it were, a cross current. 

 How are we to explain these simultaneous changes of 

 purpose ? It is not, at any rate, not always, a case of 

 ** follow my leader," for frequently no one individual 

 moves before the others. In some cases at least the 



