of Selborne 127 



power to account for those appearances almost peculiar to 

 the season. The two great motives which regulate the 

 proceedings of the brute creation are love and hunger ; 

 the former incites animals to perpetuate their kind, the 

 latter induces them to preserve individuals ; whether 

 either of these should seem to be the ruling passion in 

 the matter of congregating is to be considered. As to 

 love, that is out of the question at a time of the year 

 when that soft passion is not indulged ; besides, during 

 the amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between the 

 male birds that they can hardly bear to be together in the 

 same hedge or field. Most of the singing and elation of 

 spirits of that time seem to me to be the effect of rivalry 

 and emulation : and it is to this spirit of jealousy that I 

 chiefly attribute the equal dispersion of birds in the spring 

 over the face of the country. 



Now as to the business of food : as these animals are 

 actuated by instinct to hunt for necessary food, they 

 should not, one would suppose, crowd together in pursuit 

 of sustenance at a time when it is most likely to fail : yet 

 such associations do take place in hard weather chiefly, 

 and thicken as the severity increases. As some kind of 

 self-interest and self-defence is no doubt the motive for 

 the proceeding, may it not arise from the helplessness of 

 their state in such rigorous seasons ; as men crowd 

 together, when under great calamities, though they know 

 not why? Perhaps approximation may dispel some 

 degree of cold ; and a crowd may make each individual 

 appear safer from the ravages of birds of prey and other 

 dangers. 



If I admire when I see how much congenerous birds 

 love to congregate, I am the more struck when I see 

 incongruous ones in such strict amity. If we do not 

 much wonder to see a flock of rooks usually attended by 

 a train of daws, yet it is strange that the former should so 

 frequently have a flight of starlings for their satellites. Is 

 it because rooks have a more discerning scent than their 

 attendants, and can lead them to spots more productive 

 of food ? Anatomists say that rooks, by reason of two 

 large nerves which run down between the eyes into the 



