Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/196

138 which formerly elicited response become relatively neutral.

Hence the appearance of the female on the scene marks the opening of a new stage in the life-history of the male, and, to judge by the course of events, it would seem as if the song with its network of relationships had now served its main biological purpose.

And now, what is the purpose, and what the origin, of song? Is it, as some naturalists have conceived, a means of raising the emotional tone of the female, of creating a more effective pairing situation, and so of removing a barrier to the successful discharge of the sexual function; or, is the emphasis here too much upon the emotional, too little upon the strictly utilitarian, aspect? All. I think, will agree that it must serve some biological purpose, and the position we have so far reached is that the determining condition of its manifestation is not merely the establishment, but the actual occupation of a territory, and that there are no factors in the external environment which can evoke response in the absence of such condition. This being so, the further questions arise as to whether it contributes towards the attainment of the end for which the whole territorial system has been built up, and what precisely is the way in which it does so.

Everyone knows that in the spring the shyest of birds no longer practise the art of concealment. The Curlew soars to a great height, and upon outstretched wings hovers in