l86 THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



rigid type of social organization which I can illus- 

 trate by explaining the situation as we have found 

 it among common pigeons. (80) 



The observations were made on a group of four- 

 teen white king pigeons, half of which were male 

 and half female. Their social order was observed in 

 sex-segregated flocks until, after a month, it seemed 

 to be fairly stable; then the flocks were combined, 

 and after a month during which five of the seven 

 possible pairs mated, the sexes were again segregated 

 for twenty-eight days of further study. The results 

 are essentially similar both for the males and the 

 females for the period when the sexes were separate, 

 so that I shall follow only the reactions of the fe- 

 male flock. The essential facts can be described with 

 the aid of the diagrams in Figure 41. These show 

 the social interactions between the females lowest in 

 the social order. 



Let us examine Chart A with some care. This 

 charts the relationships of the five birds that were 

 lowest in the pre-mating flock. All these were domi- 

 nated in the main by BY and BB. The figures show 

 that BR was seen to peck GW ten times and was 

 pecked by GW, and retreated from her nine times. 

 GW pecked BW thirteen times, but lost in four 

 encounters. BR won ten and lost seven of its ob- 

 served contacts with BW, which won thirteen and 



