Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/139

Rh territories are still in process of being established, and definiteness has still to be acquired, trespassing is of frequent occurrence, and the conflicts are often conspicuous for their severity. Now these conflicts are not confined to unpaired individuals, nor to one sex, nor to one member of a pair—every individual that has settled upon the pool for the purpose of breeding will at one time or another be involved in a struggle with its neighbour. If then we single out certain pairs and day by day observe their actions and their attitude towards intruders, we shall notice that, instead of their routine of existence consisting, as a casual acquaintance with the pool and its inmates might lead us to believe, of an endless series of meaningless disputes, the behaviour of each individual is directed towards a similar goal—the increasing of the security of its possession; and further, if we pay particular attention to the circumstances which lead up to the quarrels and the circumstances under which such quarrels come to an end, we shall find, when we have accumulated a sufficient body of observations, that the disputes always originate in trespass, and that hostilities always cease when the trespasser returns again to its own territory. By careful observation it is possible to make oneself acquainted with the boundaries—I know not what other term to use—which separate this territory from that; and it is the conduct of the birds on or near these boundaries to which attention must be drawn. A bird may be