246 NATURAL HISTORY 



gregations, 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 proceed- 

 ings of the brute creation are love and hun- 

 ger ; the former incites animals to perpe- 

 tuate 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 con- 

 sidered. As to love, that is out of the ques- 

 tion 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 canhardly 

 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 attri- 

 bute 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 



