196 THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



order, which has been most studied in restricted 

 cages and pens, does occur in the wild. 



The alpha bird in a penned flock of chickens does 

 not necessarily lead in foraging expeditions when 

 the flock has more space. Fischel, a German, reports 

 that when hens of known peck-order are released 

 to forage in an orchard the dominant and near- 

 dominant birds may or may not be at the apex of 

 the foraging flock. (46) Usually the leadership 

 changes from time to time and moreover the lead- 

 ing bird seems always more or less dependent upon 

 her followers. If she gets too far out ahead the leader 

 turns back and rejoins the flock or waits for them 

 to catch up. Similar hesitation by the leader when 

 it has advanced some distance in front of its fol- 

 lowers has been observed among other animals, no- 

 tably among ants and men. 



This problem of leadership among birds is related 

 to, but not identical with, position in the social 

 order. There are many aspects of the problem into 

 which we cannot go at present, pending a closer and 

 more revealing study than has appeared as yet of 

 the qualities that make for leadership. 



With some herds or hordes of mammals leader- 

 ship rests with an old and experienced female. (16) 

 In such herds the females and young frequently 

 make up the more stable part of the social group. 



