SOCIAL OR GREGARIOUS ANIMALS. 185 



and reflux, this crush of empires, this rise of 

 others on their ruins, this development of might 

 from apparently inadequate beginnings, this 

 change of the great centres of civilization — all 

 are under the control of an Almighty God, who, 

 in the depth of his wisdom, in his secret counsels, 

 has, so to speak, fashioned out every event, so 

 that nothing comes to pass by the working of 

 blind chance — a term which even the philosophy 

 of the sceptic must reject. 



Passing from migration, there is another 

 point in the economy of animals which is 

 worthy of notice — we allude to the habits of 

 such species as are called social or gregarious, 

 terms which we deem of very different import. 

 Let us then proceed to explain our views. 



Animals are either solitary, gregarious, or 

 social. By the term solitary, we mean a mode 

 of life alone and apart (excepting with a mate) 

 from others of its species. Under the term 

 gregarious, we include such animals as merely 

 associate together, each individual working 

 for itself alone. Under the term social, we 

 class together animals which not only con- 

 gregate together, but which give their joint 

 labours for the common good. Now, although 

 this broad distinction is palpable, looking at 

 given points without transitional degrees, it is 

 not always easy to determine where the line of 

 distinction is to be drawn. For example, num- 

 bers of our migratory birds are solitary during 

 the summer, the pairs living apart from other 

 pairs of the same kind ; but as the time 



