168 CONGREGATING OF BIRDS. 



be the case, then the inaptitude for flying arises 

 only from an eagerness for food, as sheep are ob- 

 served to be very intent on grazing against stormy 

 wet evenings. 



XL 



WHEN I ride about in winter, and see such pro- 

 digious flocks of various kinds of birds, I cannot 

 help admiring at these congregations, and wishing 

 that it was in my 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 amo- 

 rous season such a jealousy prevails between the 

 male birds that they can hardly bear to be toge- 

 ther in the same hedge or field. Most of the sing- 

 ing 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 ne- 

 cessary food, they should not, one would sup- 

 pose, 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, 



