240 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



will suddenly spring into the air and fly back to 

 place itself at the side of the other, to wait quietly 

 until it has finished its task; and no sooner does 

 the busy one put up its head to signal that he is 

 ready than up they spring and fly together on to 

 the flock. No one witnessing this action can doubt 

 for a moment that these two are mates, and that 

 wherever they paired and bred originally — ^in Lincoln 

 or York or Thurso or perhaps in one of the western 

 islands — ^they paired for life and will stick together, 

 summer and winter and in all their wanderings, 

 as long as they live. 



Until one observes starlings in this close way, 

 even to their minutest actions — I had indeed litde 

 else to do during my three winter months in this 

 nursing-home — ^it is only natural to believe that 

 among gregarious species the starling is one of those 

 least likely to pair for life, seeing that in it the gre- 

 garious instinct is intensified and more highly 

 developed than in most others. One would suppose 

 that the flock, which is like an organism — ^that is 

 to say, the attachment to the flock — ^would, out of 

 the breeding season, take the place of the close 

 relation or companionship between bird and bird 

 seen in species known to pair for life. Only the 

 pairing passion, one would suppose, could serve to 

 dissolve the company of birds, and this only for a 

 brief season of about a couple of months' duration. 



