170 
NATURAL HISTORY 
LETTER XL 
TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 
Selborne, Feb. 8, 1772. 
HEN" I ride about in the winter^ and see sucli 
prodigious flocks of various kinds of birds,, I 
'^/^ cannot help admiring at these congregations, 
y>N-«=4 and wishing that it was in my power to 
account for those appearances almost pecu- 
liar 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 amorous 
season, such a jealousy prevails between the male birds, that 
they can hardly bear to be together in the same hedge or 
field. Most of the singing and elation of spirits of that 
time seems to me to be the efi'ect of rivalry and emulation : 
and it is to this spirit of jealousy that I chiefly attribute the 
equal dispersion of birds m 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 suppose, crowd together in pursuit of sus- 
tenance 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 the motive for the pro- 
ceeding, may it not arise from the helplessness of their 
state in such rigorous seasons; as men crowd together, 
when under great calamities, though they know not why ? 
Perhaps approximation may dispel some degree of cold ; 
