ery over the surrounding ground, part of
which belonged to No. 1 male and part to No. 2, and finally drives a
wedge, so to speak, between the two territories.

How is its behaviour to be explained, and why did its presence cause
such commotion? No one could have watched the gradual unfolding of this
incident day by day and not have been impressed by the persistent
endeavour with which this male maintained its position in one small part
of the meadow. This is the first and most important consideration. Then
there is the attitude, also significant, which it adopted towards the
females; for I take it that, apart from the question of territory, the
explanation of its intrusion must be sought in the necessity for
securing a mate--that it was attracted by the presence of the females,
and that the proximate end of its behaviour was the possession of one of
them. But if there is one thing that emerges from the facts more clearly
than another it is that the course of its behaviour was in no way
influenced by the presence or absence of either of the females. My
reasons for saying so are the following: in the first place, it made no
attempt to pursue or to thrust its attention upon either one or the
other of them; secondly, it even went so far as to attack and drive them
away when they approached too closely; and in the third place, when an
unpaired female did at length appear, it adopted a different attitude
and forthwith paired. And bearing in mind that these two females had
already been with their respective mates for some considerable time, and
that there was reason to believe that coition had actually taken place,
is it likely that any counter-attraction would have proved successful in
tempting either of them away from its mate, or probable, if they were
the sole attraction, that the intruding male would have been so
persistent in remaining? How very much simpler it is to fit the pieces
together, if for the time being we ignore the female and fix our
attention upon the territory. Each item of behaviour then falls into its
proper place, and the fighting which seemed so perplexing and
meaningless becomes a factor of prime importance. First of all the male
arrives; then it establishes itself in a small alder bush and advertises
its presence by song; next, by persistent effort in attacking the
neighbouring males, it frees a piece of ground from their dominion; and
finally, in proper sequence, a female arrives, pairing takes place,