Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/323

Rh migration the bird is unpaired, when the destination is reached it is probably in possession of a mate and is therefore quarrelsome. Now, at the most, the interval can only be a matter of a few days, and it is unlikely that organic changes sufficient to bring about so important an alteration of behaviour could occur in so short a time, still less likely that they could be timed to come into functional activity just at the moment when the bird reaches its breeding ground. And with regard to the suggestion that the change can be accounted for by the presence of a mate, we shall do well to remember not only that males as a rule precede the females by some days, but that a male may even remain in its territory, mateless, for some weeks, and yet display hostility.

Nevertheless the case of the migrant did not, by itself, afford sufficient evidence upon which to base any conclusion. We therefore inquired into the behaviour of some of the residents at a corresponding period. The Bunting served as an illustration. Early in the season it establishes a territory, and because food is then scarce it is forced to seek it elsewhere than on the small plot of ground which it has acquired; and so it makes its way to some spot where the supply is abundant, and there, meeting with other species bent on a similar errand, forms with them a flock. Part of its time is then spent in the territory and part on the .feeding ground, and between these two points a