The Natural History of Selborne 207 



during the amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between 

 the male birds that they can hardly bear to be together in the 

 same hedge or field. Most of the singing and elation of 

 spirits of that time seem to me to be the effect of rivalry and 

 emulation : and it is to this spirit of jealousy that I chiefly 

 attribute the equal dispersion of birds in the spring over the 

 face of the country. 



Now as to the business of food : as these animals are actu- 

 ated by instinct to hunt for necessary food, they should not, 

 one would suppose, crowd together in pursuit of sustenance 

 at a time when it is most likely to fail ; yet such associations 

 do take place in hard weather chiefly, and thicken as the 

 severity increases. As some kind of self-interest and self- 

 defence is no doubt the motive for the proceeding, may it not 

 arise from the helplessness of their state in such rigorous 

 seasons ; as men crowd together, when under great calamities, 

 though they know not why ? Perhaps approximation may 

 dispel some degree of cold ; and a crowd may make each 

 individual appear safer from the ravages of birds of prey and 

 other dangers. 



If I admire when I see how much congenerous birds love to 

 congregate, I am the more struck when I see incongruous 

 ones in such strict amity. If we do not much wonder to see 

 a flock of rooks usually attended by a train of daws, yet it is 

 strange that the former should so frequently have a flight of 

 starlings for their satellites. Is it because rooks have a more 

 discerning scent than their attendants, and can lead them to 

 spots more productive of food ? Anatomists say that rooks, 

 by reason of two large nerves which run down between the 

 eyes into the upper mandible, have a more delicate feeling in 

 their beaks than other round-billed birds, and can grope for 

 their meat when out of sight. Perhaps, then, their associates 

 attend them on the motive of interest, as greyhounds wait on 

 the motions of their finders ; and as lions are said to do on 

 the yelpings of jackals. Lapwings and starlings sometimes 

 associate. 



