Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/126

84 their territories early in the season when the hedgerows and trees are still bare; but more frequently amongst those that inhabit open ground, because the movements of the birds are there more accessible to observation. For instance, half a dozen or more Lapwings can be kept in view at the same time, and as they stand at dawn in solitary state, keeping watch upon their respective territories, they are conspicuous objects on the short, frosted grass; no stranger can enter the arena without the observer being aware of it, no commotion can occur but one detects it, no movement however small need be missed. And so they fight, in a manner which leaves no doubt as to the reality of the struggle, when their prospective mates are absent not only from the particular territories in which the conflicts take place, but absent too from those adjoining.

If the fact that males fight before they are paired and in the absence of a female could be placed beyond all question, it would no longer be possible to regard her possession as the end for which they are contending, and consequently there would be no need to produce further evidence. But the examples which I have given refer, of course, to only a few migrants and a few residents—and moreover it must be admitted that a female is often conspicuous during the battles—so that by themselves they must be regarded, and rightly so, as inconclusive. We must therefore pass on to consider evidence of a somewhat different character.

I spoke of the complexity of the strife. By