MANY SMALL BIRDS GREGARIOUS 167 
aim in climbing to the top of Ben Lomond or Ben 
Ledi than to feast there upon cold chicken and 
“ mountain dew,” and toss as many stones as they 
can find over the precipices .—British Birds , vol. i., 
p. 204. 
3.—Flight of Birds. 
The folly of chasing sparrows depends upon the 
object you have in view. If the divine wisdom and 
power have been exercised in creating them, and 
the good providence of God displayed in caring for 
them, it cannot be foolish in us to study their 
habits, provided we look upon them with relation 
to the author of their being. However, let us go 
on: they have flown, and you see that they move 
about in flocks, that is, are gregarious at this season, 
as many species of small birds are in winter—the 
lark, for example, linnets, and buntings. Before 
us are some birds in the hedge, chaffinches, which, 
as you observe, fly in a manner somewhat different 
from that of the sparrows. Then, the rooks, which 
you see high in the air, moving steadily and 
sedately along, with regularly-timed beats of their 
expanded wings, and now, as if seized with some 
sudden panic, or impelled by some frolicsome pro¬ 
pensity, dashing down headlong, crossing each 
other, whirling and undulating: how different is 
their flight from that of those wood pigeons, which 
