Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/72

50 eminently unsuited to their requirements, and disappear; Wood- Warblers arrive in some old haunt, and finding it no longer suitable for their purpose, seek new ground. So that plenty of individuals are always to be found, which, for the time being at least, are wanderers.

In the district which I have in mind, the wandering males form only a small part of the incoming bird population. The majority of individuals that fall under observation are those that have made this particular district their destination; and in doing so, they may possibly have been guided by their experience as owners or inmates of former nests, for it cannot be doubted that a return to the neighbourhood of the birthplace would lead to a more uniform distribution and therefore be advantageous, and the tendency to do so might consequently have become interwoven in the tissue of the race. How, then, do they behave? A certain amount of movement, an interchanging of positions, even though restricted to an area defined, let us say, by experience, might be expected under the circumstances—that, however, is not what we find; we observe the available situations plotted out into so many territories, each one of which is occupied by a male who passes the whole of his time therein. Take whatever species we will—Whitethroat, Whinchat, Willow- Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, it matters not which, for there is no essential difference in the general course of procedure—this condition will be found to prevail. Generally speaking, the