Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/170

112 towards the other in a threatening attitude and, in a half-hearted manner, peck at it; and gradually the hostility grew, until the tentative pecking developed into a scuffle and the scuffle into a conflict.

Much fighting also occurs between the females of the Reed-Bunting, and likewise between those of the Moor-Hen, and because these two species are not only common but inhabit respectively open stretches of marshy ground or large sheets of water, the fighting can be readily observed.

Why do the females fight before they are definitely paired? To obtain mates? This certainly seems to be the obvious explanation because any question of securing territory can be excluded; yet if it be true that their sex is numerically inferior, it is difficult to understand the necessity for such strenuous competition. But what is the condition under which the pugnacious instinct of the female is rendered susceptible to stimulation? It cannot be merely the presence of a male ready to breed, for then there would be endless commotion amongst the flocks of Chaffinches or of Lapwings which in March are composed of both sexes, including even males that have secured territories. There must be some other circumstance; and, judging by experience, it is to be found in the territory—a male, that is to say, in occupation of one, is the condition under which the inherited nature of the female is allowed free play. We must bear in mind, however, that the competition