Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/127

Rh this I mean that it is not merely a matter of disputes between adjoining males, but that it is a far more comprehensive business involving both sexes. Thus female fights with female and pair with pair, or a male will attack a female, or, again, a pair will combine against a single male or a single female. And from all this complexity of strife we gain much valuable evidence in regard to the question immediately before us. For when one pair attacks another, or males that are definitely paired fight with one another, or an unpaired male attacks either sex of a neighbouring pair indiscriminately, there is surely little ground for supposing that the possession of a mate is the reason of it all.

The battles between pairs of the same species are by no means uncommon. Observe, for example, the central pair of three pairs of Reed-Buntings occupying adjoining territories, and keep a daily record of the routine of activity practised by both sexes during the early hours of the morning; then, at the close of the season, summarise all the fighting under different headings, and it will be found that the number of occasions upon which the central pair attacked, or was attacked by, neighbouring pairs will form a considerable portion of the whole.

Or watch the Moor-Hen, and for the purpose choose some sheet of water large enough to accommodate three or more pairs, and so situated that the birds can always be kept in view. Early in February the pool will be haunted by numbers of individuals of both sexes, all