Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/176

118 that males are hostile when no female is present—and hence we must seek elsewhere for the true explanation.

Now if the behaviour of a male be closely observed, it will be found that its pugnacious instinct gains or loses susceptibility according to the position which it happens to occupy—when its ground is trespassed upon, the impulse to fight is strong; but when it crosses the boundary it seems to lose all interest in the intruder. Moreover, in some species, the male rejoins the flock at intervals during the early part of the season and for a time leads a double existence, passing backwards and forwards between its territory and the neutral ground. Its behaviour under these circumstances affords some valuable evidence, for the bird displays little if any hostility when accompanying the flock, yet when it returns to the ground over which it exercises dominion, no male can approach without being attacked. The conclusion, therefore, seems to be inevitable, namely that the actual occupation of a territory is the condition under which the pugnacious nature of the male is rendered susceptible to appropriate stimulation.