Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/287

Rh this one as the victor and that one as the vanquished. Success or failure probably depends more upon the cumulative effect of many combats entailing physical exhaustion, than upon the issue of any one particular battle; and whilst observation might quite well fail to distinguish any resultant change in the relative positions of the birds, or any harmful effect upon their constitutions, yet the area occupied by this one might be sufficiently curtailed to prejudice the welfare of the young, or the vitality of that one might be seriously impaired—and we should be none the wiser.

Neither the Marsh-Warbler nor the Reed-Warbler will tolerate strangers within the small space of ground over which they exercise dominion. Of the two, the Marsh-Warbler is perhaps the more pugnacious, and will attack any other Warbler that approaches too closely; Whitethroats are often pursued and driven away, and less frequently. Garden-Warblers. In one case, a male occupied the same ground as a Sedge-Warbler, and there was a constant feud between them; a willow-tree formed its headquarters, and this same tree seemed to be the headquarters of the Sedge-Warbler, so that they often met and whenever they did so they quarrelled. As a rule the Marsh-Warbler was the aggressor and had the mastery over its opponent, and when it attacked, it uttered a peculiar harsh scolding note, raised the feathers on its back, spread out its wings, and betrayed the usual symptoms of emotional excitement.