Note 53 — THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA.

[Note 53] p. 221.—Doves beside falcons.

Those interested in the facts of nature which suggest the danger of exaggerating the Darwinian idea of the struggle for existence should consult two articles by Kropotkine, entitled “Mutual Aid Among Animals”, in the Nineteenth Century, 1889. Kropotkine cites from Dr. Coues, an American ornithologist, an observation in regard to some little cliff swallows which nested quite near the home of a prairie falcon. “The little peaceful birds had no fear of their rapacious neighbour; they did not let it even approach to their colony. They immediately surrounded it and chased it, so that it had to make off at once.”