DECEMBER. 199 



halting in one place for many days, and roosting at 

 nightfall apparently wherever the day's chase had 

 ended. Thus the whole country is traversed by these 

 highwaymen of the air, until, as spring approaches, 

 the residue which have escaped the gamekeepers' 

 guns have found their way to safe woods in good 

 hunting country, where they discover mates and 

 settle down in life. 



FOR THE GOOD OF THE SPECIES. 



In this dispersal of the young birds of the year 

 to seek their own fortunes during winter we see the 

 wise working of evolution, which prevents the over- 

 crowding of any species in a few breeding-sites, and 

 ensures that all suitable localities shall be occupied ; 

 and no operation of nature is more curious than the 

 sudden change which takes place, for the good of 

 the race, in the minds of parent birds towards their 

 children when it is time for the latter to depart. In 

 the morning you may see a parent robin feeding 

 young ones, whom before nightfall he will be chasing 

 viciously off the premises ; and whenever you see 

 birds wandering alone in winter you may be sure 

 that they have, in the first instance, been driven out 

 by their parents, and that they belong to kinds 

 which would soon overcrowd a given locality if 

 allowed to remain and multiply there. Woodpeckers 

 and shrikes are cases in point ; for these birds, like 

 hawks, require a space to themselves for hunting- 

 ground. 



