a crowd may make each individual appear safer 

 from the ravages of birds of prey and other dan- 

 gers. 



If I admire when I see how much congenerous 

 birds love to congregate, I am the more struck when 

 I see incongenerous 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 discern- 

 ing scent than their attend- 

 ants, 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 upper 

 mandible, have a more 

 delicate feeling in their 

 beaks than other round- 

 billed birds, and can grope 

 for their meat when out of 

 sight. Perhaps then their as- 

 sociates attend them on the mo- 

 tive of interest, as greyhounds 



wait on the motions of their finders ; and as lions 



174 



A starling. 



