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
4. Elliot Coues, in Bulletin U.S. Geol. Survey of Territories, iv. No.
7, pp. 556, 579, etc. Among the gulls (Larus argentatus), Polyakoff saw
on a marsh in Northern Russia, that the nesting grounds of a very great
number of these birds were always patrolled by one male, which warned
the colony of the approach of danger. All birds rose in such case and
attacked the enemy with great vigour. The females, which had five or six
nests together on each knoll of the marsh, kept a certain order in
leaving their nests in search of food. The fledglings, which otherwise
are extremely unprotected and easily become the prey of the rapacious
birds, were never left alone ("Family Habits among the Aquatic Birds,"
in Proceedings of the Zool. Section of St. Petersburg Soc. of Nat., Dec.
17, 1874).
5. Brehm Father, quoted by A. Brehm, iv. 34 seq. See also White's
Natural History of Selborne, Letter XI.
6. Dr. Coues, Birds of Dakota and Montana, in Bulletin U.S. Survey of
Territories, iv. No. 7.
7. It has often been intimated that larger birds may occasionally
transport some of the smaller birds when they cross together the
Mediterranean, but the fact still remains doubtful. On the other side,
it is certain that some smaller birds join the bigger ones for
migration. The fact has been noticed several times, and it was recently
confirmed by L. Buxbaum at Raunheim. He saw several parties of cranes
which had larks flying in the midst and on both sides of their migratory
columns (Der zoologische Garten, 1886, p. 133).
8. H. Seebohm and Ch. Dixon both mention this habit.
9. The fact is well known to every field-naturalist, and with reference
to England several examples may be found in Charles Dixon's Among the
Birds in Northern Shires. The chaffinches arrive during winter in vast
flocks; and about the same time, i.e. in November, come flocks of
bramblings; redwings also frequent the same places "in similar large
companies," and so on (pp. 165, 166).
10. S.W. Baker, Wild Beasts, etc., vol. i. p. 316.
11. Tschudi, Thierleben der Alpenwelt, p. 404.
12. Houzeau's Etudes, ii. 463.
13. For their hunting associations see Sir E. Tennant's Natural History
of Ceylon, quoted in Romanes's Animal Intelligence, p. 432.
14. See Emil Huter's letter in L. Buchner's Liebe.
15. With regard to the viscacha it is very interesting to note that
these highly-sociable little animals not only live peaceably together in
each village, but that whole villages visit each other at nights.
Sociability is thus extended to the whole species--not only to a given
society, or to a nation, as we saw it with the ants. When the farmer
destroys a viscacha-burrow, and buries the inhabitants under a heap of
earth, other viscachas--we are told by Hudson--"come from a distance to
dig out those that are buried alive" (l.c., p. 311). This is a
widely-known fact in La Plata, verified by the author.
16. Handbuch für Jäger und Jagdberechtigte, quoted by Brehm, ii. 223.
17. Buffon's Histoire Naturelle.
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