Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/354

286 the eleventh year, we have 59,048 Yellow Buntings occupying 29,524½ acres or 46 square miles. This, then, will be the result of the operation of the impulse, providing that all the individuals survive and that no complications supervene.

But of course complications are numerous, some of which retard while others accelerate the rate of expansion. These complications arise from various sources—in the first place from natural enemies which prey upon the birds or upon their eggs; in the next place from climate which, if it happens to be unfavourable, may mean that food is scarce and that only a small percentage of the young survive; and lastly from rivals—and by rivals I mean closely related forms that require a similar station and similar food—which, by occupying available ground, may check expansion, or, by forcing a continuation of the search, may widen it.

Now when individuals fail as many do fail in their initial attempt to secure territory, the activity of the impulse still persists, and there is no control over the direction in which the bird continues to wander whilst in search of its end. Some therefore seek in this direction, others in that; some wander inwards into inhabited areas and fail to find accommodation, or, according to the relative strength of their impulse, perhaps succeed and so set free a new competitor, others wander outwards into country uninhabited by the species. These latter we will call "pioneers." They may find accommoda-