THE FLOCKING OF THE BIRDS 293 



to the needs of the bird, and make vast numbers 

 of larks possible. In winter we concentrate on 

 set places the food for which, in a natural state, 

 larks would have to search over a wide area. 

 Thus large flocks may be said to be directly a 

 product of cultivation, and without cultivation the 

 lark flock would be impossible. The bird which, 

 of all others in the British list, comes nearest to 

 forming a society is the rook. Rooks build in 

 company, and, if all tales be true, make love to 

 one another's wives. They go out to feed in 

 company, and, there is some reason to believe, 

 set aside certain of their number to keep a watch 

 a more truly communal trait than simple associa- 

 tion. But the feeding habits of the rook are in 

 every detail adapted to cultivation, and in a country 

 without cultivation their regimented methods of 

 feeding could not be carried out. It may be said 

 that flocking* among many birds which most con- 

 spicuously display the habit is not brought about 

 by the desire for society, but by a uniform 1 com- 

 petence in discovering the best places for finding 

 food. Those birds like the crows, whose food 

 is rarely or never to be found assembled in one 

 place, as the food of the rooks is assembled in 

 a ploughed field, are solitary in habit ; but in 

 countries where garbage and carrion abound about 

 the habitations of men, even the crows present 

 the semblance of social birds. 



