THE FLOCKING OF THE BIRDS 291 



his progeny follow him and claim relationship, he 

 will fight. In the case of the mavis, the mother 

 bird seems to take an interest in her young for 

 some days after her lord and master has resumed 

 his bachelorhood ; but very soon the members 

 of the family party wander off in various ways, 

 and know one another no more. Within a week of 

 the fledging, all the members of the household 

 are established on an individual basis. Of the 

 small birds, the tits seem to be alone in maintain- 

 ing a family party for any length of time, but even 

 with them the institution of the family flock is 

 in its endurance a thing merely of days. 



It is questionable if any British bird is entitled 

 to the epithet " Socialist," and the vast majority 

 of them are individualists of the most absolute 

 kind. At present many of them have flocked, 

 but the flock is not a society. There is no sort 

 of co-operation, unless it be in the avoidance of 

 danger, every bird searching for and consuming 

 food strictly " on his own." And most of the 

 flocks that frequent stackyards in the winter-time 

 are composite. Larks, linnets, corn -buntings, 

 yellow-hammers, greenfinches, chaffinches, bram- 

 blings are all mingled together, and when the 

 bird-catcher nets them he generally gets specimens 

 of all these, and sometimes other species as well. 

 In some of their actions they seem to be animated 

 by a spirit in common. The suddenness with 

 which hundreds of birds will take to flight at 

 the same instant on some real or fancied alarm 

 has suggested the conjecture that they possess 

 a sixth sense of which we know nothing. One 



