Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/265

Rh To sum up: the territory is useful in various ways, but not necessarily in the same way for every species. Reproduction would always have remained fortuitous, and the number of individuals that attained to it would seldom have reached the possible maximum unless some provision had been included in its system for insuring that the males and females could meet at the proper moment and afterwards remain in touch with one another, and that the number of pairs inhabiting a given area did not exceed the available means of support. I have tried to show that the inclusion of a disposition to secure a territory tends to remove these difficulties. In the first place, the disposition which leads to its occupation comes into functional activity (in the male) early in the season; and so, by the time that the appropriate pairing condition arises in the females, the process of acquiring territories is well advanced, and the males being regularly distributed, each in its respective position, are readily found by their prospective mates. The behaviour of each sex is thus adjusted to further the end of mutual discovery. Next, after mating has taken place, the position occupied by the male acts as a headquarters to which the birds can always repair, and becomes a bond of union which is serviceable in that it prevents any possibility of their drifting apart. And in the third place, the males become pugnacious and in this way secure for themselves areas which vary in size according to the conditions of existence of the species, so that