Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/114

76 under which the fighting occurred, one must admit that this view would have much to recommend it. But it is not merely a question of males disputing in the presence of a female; for males fight when no female is present, pair attacks pair, or a male may even attack a female—in fact there is a complexity of strife which is bewildering.

In attributing the rivalry to the presence of the female, it is assumed that males are in a preponderance, and that consequently two or more are always ready to compete for a mate. Her presence is presumably the condition under which his pugnacious nature is rendered susceptible to its appropriate stimulus, the stimulus being, of course, supplied by the opponent. There would be nothing against this interpretation if it were in accord with the facts; but it can. I think, be shown that the males are just as pugnacious and the conflicts just as severe even when the question of securing a mate is definitely excluded; and I shall now give the evidence which has led me to this conclusion. In the previous chapter we had occasion to refer to the difference in the times of arrival of the male and female migrants, and we came to the conclusion, it may be remembered, that this was a fact of some importance, because it gave us a clue to the meaning of much that was otherwise obscure in their behaviour. But it is also of importance in connection with the particular aspect of the problem which we now have in view, for if it