Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/279

Rh though no collision may actually take place, yet the fact that the Raven, when it turns to face its adversary, is obliged to drop the stick which it carries, is not only an indication of the character of the struggle, but it shows that a definite end is gained—that the efforts of the Raven to build in that particular locality are hampered. But the Falcon is not the only enemy that the Raven has to face; Buzzards are just as intolerant of the presence of Ravens in their^neighbourhood as the Ravens are of them, and consequently there is incessant quarrelling wherever the same locality is inhabited. As a rule, the fighting occurs whilst the birds are on the wing; the Buzzard rises to a considerable height, and, closing its wings, stoops at the Raven below, and when within a short distance of its adversary, swerves upwards and gains a position from which it can again attack. The Buzzard, however, is by no means always the aggressor; I have watched one so persistently harassed by a Raven that at length it left the rock upon which it was resting and disappeared from view, still followed by its rival. Thus it seems as if they were evenly matched, and, when they occupy the same locality, it is interesting to notice how the initiative passes from the one to the other according to the position occupied by the birds in their respective territories.

That there is constant warfare between the Green Woodpecker and the Starling is well known, the purpose of the Starling being to