152 THE FINCHES 



after feeding a little, as suddenly rise and fly on again, their direc- 

 tion first here and then there seeming entirely capricious. With 

 these mixed assemblages greenfinches and chaffinches more parti- 

 cularly sparrows often associate themselves, and, on the ground, tits 

 and hedge-sparrows. Yet the sparrow even "Domesticus" though so 

 common and vulgar, is not such a flocker as might have been expected. 

 He does indeed flock, but, according to Macgillivray, such gatherings 

 are " loose, and accidentally formed by individuals casually meeting 

 with each other, and liable to be broken up by slight causes." l 

 Both he and the tree-sparrow, however which latter species has 

 been sometimes observed in large flocks are accustomed to join with 

 others of the family as well as with each other. The greenfinch, 

 whom he most resembles, is perhaps the house-sparrow's most usual 

 consort on these occasions. 



Where birds are gregarious, it is natural that the young of the 

 first brood should form the first social gatherings of the advancing 

 season, and be afterwards joined by their parents and younger 

 brothers and sisters. Attention has been more specially called to 

 this circumstance in the case of the greenfinch, 2 linnet, 3 siskin, 4 and 

 the house- 5 and tree- 6 sparrows ; but, perhaps, the difficulty would be 

 to find any very marked exception to what seems almost a necessity 

 of the case. One might, indeed, expect to find some difference, as 

 between the various species, in regard to the length of time after 

 quitting the nest at which these young birds begin flocking, on the 

 general principle that no two beings are precisely alike in anything. 

 Thus young linnets, according to Bailly, 7 stay with their parents, 

 " wdinairement, jusqu'b la periode de la seconde couvee " (laying of eggs). 

 It may be doubted, however, whether in this they differ much from 

 other young finches. It is, in fact, just what one would expect, for 

 something seems needed to finally break the bond between parent 



1 History of British Birds. 2 Seebohm, History of British Birds. 



3 Bailly, Ornithologie de la Savoie. 



4 Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vogcl Mitteleuropas, iii. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 

 7 Ornithologie de la Savoie. 



