102 EVOLUTION, SOCIAL AND ORGANIC 



hood for a long while, and only then will give 

 the signal for general advance, after which the 

 whole band starts at once and plunders the 

 field in no time." 



Mutual aid is very conspicuous among peli- 

 cans. "They always go fishing in numerous 

 bands and after having chosen an appropriate 

 bay, they form a wide half circle in face of 

 the shore, and narrow it by paddling towards 

 the shore, catching all the fish that happen to 

 be enclosed in the circle. On narrow rivers 

 and canals they even divide into two parties, 

 each of which draws up on a half circle, and 

 both paddle to meet each other, just as if two 

 parties of men dragging two long nets should 

 advance to capture all the fish taken between 

 the nets when both parties come to meet." 



Our familiar friend, the house sparrow, is 

 not overlooked and is said to have practiced 

 mutual aid to such an extent as to be recog- 

 nized even by the ancient Greeks. Kropotkin 

 quotes from memory, the Greek Orator who 

 exclaimed: "While I am speaking to you a 

 sparrow has come to tell other sparrows that 

 a slave has dropped on the floor a sack of 

 corn, and they all go there to feed on the 

 grain." Sparrows also maintain social disci- 

 pline: "If a lazy sparrow intends appropriat- 

 ing the nest a comrade is building, or even 



