To take flights in flocks for the mere pleasure of the
flight, is quite common among all sorts of birds. "In the Humber
district especially," Ch. Dixon writes, "vast flights of dunlins
often appear upon the mud-flats towards the end of August, and
remain for the winter.... The movements of these birds are most
interesting, as a vast flock wheels and spreads out or closes up
with as much precision as drilled troops. Scattered among them
are many odd stints and sanderlings and ringed-plovers."(15)

It would be quite impossible to enumerate here the various
hunting associations of birds; but the fishing associations of
the pelicans are certainly worthy of notice for the remarkable
order and intelligence displayed by these clumsy birds. They
always go fishing in numerous bands, and after having chosen an
appropriate bay, they form a wide half-circle in face of the
shore, and narrow it by paddling towards the shore, catching all
fish that happen to be enclosed in the circle. On narrow rivers
and canals they even divide into two parties, each of which draws
up on a half-circle, and both paddle to meet each other, just as
if two parties of men dragging two long nets should advance to
capture all fish taken between the nets when both parties come to
meet. As the night comes they fly to their resting-places--
always the same for each flock--and no one has ever seen them
fighting for the possession of either the bay or the resting
place. In South America they gather in flocks of from forty to
fifty thousand individuals, part of which enjoy sleep while the
others keep watch, and others again go fishing.(16) And finally,
I should be doing an injustice to the much-calumniated
house-sparrows if I did not mention how faithfully each of them
shares any food it discovers with all members of the society to