Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/227



the first two chapters I tried to show that the inherited nature of the male leads it to remain in a definite place at a definite season and to become intolerant of the approach of members of its own sex, and that a result is thus attained which the word "territory" in some measure describes. But the use of this word is nevertheless open to criticism, for it denotes a human end upon which the highest faculties have been brought to bear, and consequently we have to be on our guard lest our conception of the "territory" should tend to soar upwards into regions which require a level of mental development not attained by the bird. It is necessary to bear this in mind now we have come to consider the meaning of the territory, or rather the position that it occupies in the whole scheme of reproduction.

Relationship to a territory within the interrelated whole of a bird's life serves more than one purpose, and not always the same purpose in the case of every species. We have only