82 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



Of course, if any adult birds habitually fed each 

 other on ordinary occasions, the same behaviour 

 in the breeding season would be no evidence that 

 it had anything to do with love. But the con- 

 verse is the case. I have never heard of a wild 

 bird that habitually shares its food with a mate. 

 In times of scarcity, however, a bird has some- 

 times been observed to feed a companion. In the 

 severe winter of 1879-80 there was a good deal 

 of snow in the western counties, and the rooks had 

 a bad time, finding a diet of mangold insufficient. 

 Several of them came to a garden in a town in 

 which the birds were fed. Another rook, whose 

 flight betrayed its lightness and weakness, perched 

 in a tree there, and one of the usual two or three 

 took up a piece of bread directly to the new-comer, 

 and gave it up to him without any show of 

 resistance or anger. I saw this from a distance 

 of about twenty-five yards. Quite possibly the 

 birds were mates ; but the incident is only 

 mentioned for its rarity in such weather. In 

 early spring, rooks feeding on the hillside or in 

 fields may often be seen to offer food to each 

 other. 



