Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/186

128 answers the same purpose as the topmost branch of a tree.

Now there is nothing in the external environment to which the song is more definitely related than to the "headquarters"—this at least is the conclusion to be drawn from the behaviour, and I will indicate the sort of evidence upon which such conclusion is based. There is, first of all, the persistency with which the male resorts to the same tree, even to the same branch, and, as it seems, solely for the purpose of advertisement. We know by experience the approximate routine of the male's behaviour; we know where to seek it, where to hear it, and when once we have discovered its headquarters, we know that there it will sing day after day for weeks or it may be for months together—perhaps the most striking feature of its behaviour at this season. Next, we find that other trees, though made use of, are not made use of to a similar extent for the purpose of song. The area occupied varies much according to the nature of the environment; it is sometimes extensive, and seldom less than half an acre or so in extent; but in most instances it contains plenty of trees and bushes which could, one would imagine, serve the purpose of a "headquarters" just as well as the particular one selected, and yet the bird, when there, betrays no inclination to sing at all comparable with that which can be observed when it occupies its accustomed perch. Further evidence is afforded in the behaviour of those