238 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



Coots and Moorhens gather in autumn, especially 

 on the broads ; and sometimes the various species 

 of Grebes will be found in their company. The 

 Gulls and Terns are also sociably inclined, and 

 their congregations are often very mixed in cha- 

 racter, though in this group of birds the young 

 ones keep much aloof from the adults, and the 

 smaller species do not flock much with their larger 

 relatives. These birds, however, are perhaps 

 most gregarious and sociable during the breeding 

 season, when Gulls of many species rear their 

 young side by side, as we have already seen. 



The vast flights of Ring Doves and Stock 

 Doves, which congregate with the farmers' Pigeons 

 on the stubbles in autumn, form a mixed congre- 

 gation that always affords me pleasure. Pigeons 

 are remarkably sociable birds, and when once the 

 brown tints of autumn tell us that the year has 

 turned, these birds unite into companies for the 

 winter. Flock after flock come from the sur- 

 rounding woods, especially from those where fir 

 trees are numerous, and meet at the common 

 rendezvous. Sometimes these birds gather in the 

 woods among the oaks and beeches, where the 

 acorns and the mast are the attraction, the branches 

 resounding with the rattle of their wings as the 

 birds fly from tree to tree. I often see the Ring 

 Doves and the Stock Doves congregated in the 

 woods at places where the Pheasants are fed, all 

 three species fraternising most amicably. These 



