GROUP ORGANIZATION I91 



with superior fighting or bluffing ability. Maturity, 

 strength, courage, pugnacity and health, all seem 

 essential qualities making for dominance among 

 chickens. Luck of combat also seems to play a part 

 when one considers the numerous triangle situations 

 that have been discovered. Since cockerels have cer- 

 tain of these qualities more than pullets, a male 

 bird, if present, dominates a flock of hens. 



There seems to be little if any correlation between 

 greater weight and position in the peck-order. The 

 location of the combat seems to be important. 

 Schjelderup-Ebbe found that chickens in their home 

 yard win more combats than strangers to that yard; 

 and Mr. Shoemaker has reported that, with canaries, 

 each bird becomes dominant in the region near its 

 nest. (113) We found some years ago that with 

 pigeons one might be dominant on the ground 

 about the feed pan and another have first rank at 

 the entrance to the roosts. (80) 



With chickens, as I have said, the larger, stronger, 

 more pugnacious males usually dominate the fe- 

 males. This is said to be generally true in species 

 in which the male is larger or more showy than the 

 female. With the parrakeets, (11) whose social order 

 in many ways resembles that of pigeons, the females 

 are dominant over the males except in the breeding 

 season. While breeding and nesting are in progress 



