obtaining a panoramic view of the whole proceeding, and we have to study
each scene separately before discovering that the relationship between
intolerance and the territory on the one hand, and friendship and the
neutral ground on the other, is just as strong a feature as it is in the
behaviour of the Lapwing.

I shall now give a brief account of the conduct of a male Reed-Bunting
which by persistent effort established itself late in the season, and I
shall do so because its behaviour tends to confirm much that has been
said in the preceding pages.

Early in March three male Reed-Buntings occupied a small water meadow
overgrown with the common rush, and by the third week all of them were
paired. On the 30th March two of the males were unusually pugnacious,
and on the following day fighting continued and at times was very
severe. Now I knew that the occupants of the ground in which the
fighting was taking place were paired, and not doubting that the
combatants were the owners of two territories marked for convenience
sake Nos. 1 and 2, I was at a loss to understand the meaning of so
determined and persistent a struggle. My attention, however, was
presently drawn to a third bird, which also joined in the conflict and
made the whole situation still more perplexing. This bird, as it soon
became clear, was none other than the owner of No. 2 territory, and the
one that I had previously regarded as such was a new arrival. On the
following day, the 1st April, fighting continued, and in my record for
that day there is a note to the effect that "No. 2 female seems to be of
no interest to No. 5 male (the new arrival); its purpose seems to be to
drive away intruders." On the 2nd April and subsequent days, this bird
attacked every other male that approached, and not only maintained its
position but ultimately succeeded in securing a mate. Here then we have
two territories occupied by two males, both of which had obtained a
mate. The relation of these two birds was normal, a month's routine had
defined their boundaries, and conflicts were less frequent than
formerly. But upon this comparatively peaceful scene a strange male
intrudes. Observe the manner of the intrusion. The stranger does not
wander about first in this direction and then in that, but acts _as if_
it had some definite end in view, and establishing itself in a small
alder bush which it uses as a base or headquarters, it gradually extends
its dominion, gains the mast