Mutual Aid: A Factor of EvolutionKropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz
Science
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich, kniaz
Cooperation; Social groups; Social institutions
Life in societies does not cease when the nesting period is over; it
begins then in a new form. The young broods gather in societies of
youngsters, generally including several species. Social life is
practised at that time chiefly for its own sake--partly for security,
but chiefly for the pleasures derived from it. So we see in our forests
the societies formed by the young nuthatchers (Sitta caesia), together
with tit-mouses, chaffinches, wrens, tree-creepers, or some
wood-peckers.(5) In Spain the swallow is met with in company with
kestrels, fly-catchers, and even pigeons. In the Far West of America the
young horned larks live in large societies, together with another lark
(Sprague's), the skylark, the Savannah sparrow, and several species of
buntings and longspurs.(6) In fact, it would be much easier to describe
the species which live isolated than to simply name those species which
join the autumnal societies of young birds--not for hunting or nesting
purposes, but simply to enjoy life in society and to spend their time in
plays and sports, after having given a few hours every day to find their
daily food.
And, finally, we have that immense display of mutual aid among
birds-their migrations--which I dare not even enter upon in this place.
Sufficient to say that birds which have lived for months in small bands
scattered over a wide territory gather in thousands; they come together
at a given place, for several days in succession, before they start, and
they evidently discuss the particulars of the journey. Some species will
indulge every afternoon in flights preparatory to the long passage. All
wait for their tardy congeners, and finally they start in a certain well
chosen direction--a fruit of accumulated collective experience--the
strongest flying at the head of the band, and relieving one another in
that difficult task. They cross the seas in large bands consisting of
both big and small birds, and when they return next spring they repair
to the same spot, and, in most cases, each of them takes possession of
the very same nest which it had built or repaired the previous year.(7)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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