Some are gregarious, some are
solitary, whether they be furnished with feet or wings or be fitted
for a life in the water; and some partake of both characters, the
solitary and the gregarious. And of the gregarious, some are
disposed to combine for social purposes, others to live each for its
own self.
Gregarious creatures are, among birds, such as the pigeon, the
crane, and the swan; and, by the way, no bird furnished with crooked
talons is gregarious. Of creatures that live in water many kinds of
fishes are gregarious, such as the so-called migrants, the tunny,
the pelamys, and the bonito.
Man, by the way, presents a mixture of the two characters, the
gregarious and the solitary.
Social creatures are such as have some one common object in view;
and this property is not common to all creatures that are
gregarious. Such social creatures are man, the bee, the wasp, the ant,
and the crane.
Again, of these social creatures some submit to a ruler, others
are subject to no governance: as, for instance, the crane and the
several sorts of bee submit to a ruler, whereas ants and numerous
other creatures are every one his own master.
And again, both of gregarious and of solitary animals, some are
attached to a fixed home and others are erratic or nomad.
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