Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/322

254 individual, the two questions we set ourselves to examine in this chapter were: Is there any circumstance in the life behaviour of the individual with which the hostility can be definitely related; and, will the hostility lead to the securing of a greater measure of success in the attainment of reproduction?

Many different species assemble together in winter and roam from place to place in search of food. But in spring their behaviour undergoes a remarkable transformation; they avoid one another and become quarrelsome, so much so that whereas the outstanding feature of the winter is sociability, that of the spring is hostility. With this general fact before us, we proceeded to investigate this change of behaviour still further. First of all we took the case of a migrant, and, comparing its behaviour, as it journeyed, with that when finally it reached its destination, we found that the bird which was notoriously pugnacious when in occupation of a territory betrayed no interest in other species as it travelled to the accustomed breeding ground. Not only so, but even though it was attacked, we found that its pugnacious instinct still failed to respond. Here, however, it may be contended, and with reasonable justification, that in the interval which elapses before the ultimate destination is reached, some change in the organic condition of the bird may occur which will account for its altered behaviour; or, it may be urged, with no less justification, that whereas on