264 
BIRD-LIFE« 
important tail-feathers, and with these last the whole 
performance is generally ended. 
After a good cleaning and a hath, a bird always seems 
especially comfortable. The means of cleaning itself are 
to a bird a veritable necessity, for without them it sickens. 
However carefully the bird avoids water on other occa¬ 
sions, especially rain, it is ever eager for its bath.* When 
the toilet is ended it likes to dream away a half-hour or 
so in the full enjoyment of internal and external warmth. 
With this object we often see the following birds lying on 
on their sides or on their bellies sunning themselves,— 
Vultures, Starlings, Pigeons, Partridges, Ibises and 
others; some, like the Cormorants and Darters, range 
themselves in rows along a sunny ledge of rock or 
some place similarly situated, fanning, with their wings 
expanded. This slight tremulous movement which one 
may observe in this position denotes the perfection of 
comfort. 
Many species spend a certain portion of the day in the 
society of their friends. The greater number of those 
birds which live in pairs like to meet together for a time, 
though not, or at all events less frequently, during the 
breeding season, when household duties allow but little 
time for such indulgence. Many, take for instance the 
Raven, pay one another regular visits. Each pair of these 
splendid and cunning creatures, like most other birds of 
solitary dispositions, live in a certain circle, within which 
no other pair is allowed to venture ; after meal times, 
however, neighbours visit for an hour, chattering and 
* Marsh- and aquatic birds excepted, I only know of the following deviation from 
this rule:—Swallows, which like to hunt in the rain; Pigeons and Sand Grouse, 
which often lie out in it; and Parrots, which delight to sit out on bare branches 
to be rained upon.— Author. 
