THE ANIMAL DISLIKE OF SOLITUDE 35 



are wrongly supposed to prefer solitary lives. Hawks 

 and other predatory birds do not, as a rule, flock 

 together, because they require a large area from 

 which to obtain their food. But in confinement 

 they suffer from solitude in a marked degree. 

 Tame hawks and falcons, if kept alone in a room, 

 mope and lose condition, and in some species a 

 suicidal instinct is developed. Willoughby noticed 

 that merlins kept in solitary confinement destroyed 

 their claws and toes, and the writer has himself seen 

 one instance in which this had happened. The 

 lively, gregarious birds of the tropics cannot endure 

 to miss the society of their fellows. Wilson, the 

 American naturalist, took with him in his travels 

 in South America, one of the green Carolina parrots 

 which he had tamed. This bird was a most 

 affectionate creature, but whenever a flock of its 

 own species passed by, showed a strong desire to 

 join them. Wilson soon caught a companion for 

 his pet, but by an accident it was killed, and the 

 survivor was inconsolable. He then tried the experi- 

 ment of showing the parrot a small looking-glass. 

 As soon as the bird saw its image in the mirror, it 

 seemed quite contented with its shadowy companion, 

 and would sit for hours cuddled up against the 

 glass with great satisfaction. The flocking of the 

 non-migratory birds after the nesting season is 



