Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/204

146 whereas the latter was only serviceable to certain individuals; and in making this statement. I had in mind the direct benefits to the community which proceeded from an appreciation of sounds having a mutually beneficial meaning, not the indirect, though none the less beneficial, consequences to the species as a whole. Biologically considered, song, if it acts as a warning and thereby leads in one way or another to more complete success in the rearing of offspring, may be spoken of as socially serviceable; but it is legitimate to draw a distinction between the prospective value of remote relationships which we can foresee, and the mutual assistance which the individuals of a community derive from their close association.

If there were always sufficient breeding ground to support the offspring of all the individuals of each species, if the individuals were always so distributed that there was no possibility of overcrowding in any particular area, and if the conditions of existence of different species were so widely divergent that the presence of this one in no way affected the interests of that, no opportunity would be afforded for the development of so complex a system as is involved in the "territory" and all that appertains to it. But the available breeding ground is by no means unlimited. The supply of food, which is a determining factor in the environment, is always fluctuating according to the climate and according to the changes