Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/297

Rh they are compelled to resort to the surrounding neighbourhood, and since, even there, the available supply is sometimes scarce or, if plentiful, limited to certain areas, they are constrained from time to time to join together again in flocks. Thus, for part of the year, they may be said to lead a double existence; for just as the Whinchat, that is sociable on migration, betrays a changed nature when it reaches its destination, so too does the nature of these residents change from hour to hour according to whether they are seeking food or occupying the breeding ground.

In the newly-sown fields of grain the birds frequently find a supply of food. Here Yellow Buntings, Greenfinches, and Chaffinches collect from the surrounding neighbourhood. The majority are somewhere in possession of territories, and not a few are paired. Between the territories and the feeding ground a highway is formed by individuals passing to and fro. Sometimes both members of the pair leave together in order to seek food, at other times they separate and the male may be in his territory whilst the female is with the flock. Apart from occasional manifestations of sexual emotion on the part of a male, there is nothing to disturb the harmony of the flock nor anything in the behaviour of the birds which would lead one to suspect that, when they return, their nature will change and that they will be no longer sociable; and, which is still more remarkable, no matter how great the provocation which