Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/163

Rh whilst it is following the plough—all of which points to a relation between the territory and the fighting. And this view has at least one merit—it accounts for all the fighting no matter what degree of severity may be reached or in what way the sexes may be involved. The complexity of the strife presents no obstacle; for if the biological end of the fighting is to render the territory, which has already been established, secure from intrusion, each sex will have its allotted part to play at the allotted time: thus the battles between the males before females appear on the scene will decide the initial question of ownership; those between the females will give an advantage to the more virile members and insure an even distribution of mates for the successful males; the constant struggles between paired males will roughly maintain the boundaries and prevent such encroachment as might hamper the supply of food for the young; and the co-operation of male and female in defence of the territory will be an additional safeguard. Each form of battle will contribute some share towards the main biological function of reproduction.

Hitherto we have dealt principally with the male. We have referred, it is true, to the fact that the female co-operates with her mate in order to drive away intruders, but beyond this, we have made no attempt to trace what part, if any, she plays in the whole scheme. We must do so now.