Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/324

256 highway is formed by the bird passing constantly to and fro. But the attention which it pays to other species is very different on these two occasions—when in the territory it is intolerant of strangers, but when it accompanies the flock it displays no interest in their movements. From hour to hour its nature seems to change. But, as we saw, the inborn constitution of the bird cannot change, and therefore we came to the conclusion that an explanation of the altered behaviour was to be found in the fact that the pugnacious instinct is only rendered susceptible under a certain condition. So that all the evidence tended to confirm the impression which we had gained from the course of events in the life of the migrant, namely, that the hostility bears a direct relation to the occupation of a territory.

Finally we were led to inquire whether the hostility was serviceable in promoting the welfare of the individuals. We saw that many different species require similar conditions of existence, that ancient breeding haunts disappear and that new ones come into being, and that in the ordinary course of events such species must often assemble in the same area for the purpose of reproduction. So that even though a male might be successful in protecting its ground from intruders of its own kind, yet it might still fail to rear offspring, just because it happened to choose a position in which other kindred forms had gathered. Hence if the territory is adequately to serve its purpose,