LETTER XVII 



Packing of Birds Semi-migration of Larks Robins : their love of 

 localities; their pugnacity ; death of ; their tameness. 



jth March 1887. 



DEAR MARCO You ask me what I think 

 about the packing of birds in the autumn, 

 etc. I always feel that it is a mistake to 

 regard this as a partial or temporary phase 

 in bird life, but rather that it is the ordinary 

 social arrangement of most birds except those 

 of prey, which is broken through during the 

 breeding season and resumed again after- 

 wards ; in short, I look upon it as their normal 

 state. The old proverb has much truth in it 

 which says, " Birds of a feather flock together," 

 and surely it is no odd thing for them to do 

 when we see not only beasts, fishes, and 

 insects, but men also doing the same. Why 



