GROUP ORGANIZATION 197 



to which males attach themselves during the mating 

 season. With other mammals the male is the leader, 

 and sometimes a jealous one, that drives other males 

 out of the herd; although in some cases several males 

 are tolerated. (3) 



Leadership does not always go to the faster or 

 stronger animal; in fact, the position of being out 

 in front of the flock may not mean real leadership. 

 An interesting example of such pseudo-leadership 

 has been recorded for a mixed group of shore birds 

 observed by Mr. Nichols of the American Museum 

 of Natural History. (85) 



He found a mixed flock of such birds which was 

 composed of two young dowitchers, with a dozen 

 black-bellied plovers and a single golden plover. 

 Under these conditions certain of the birds could 

 readily be distinguished from the others. When the 

 flock was flushed, the flight of the golden plover was 

 comparatively rapid and it was soon ahead of all of 

 the rest. The dowitchers were slow and tended to 

 fall behind, and when this happened the black- 

 bellied plover wheeled. This affected both the ap- 

 parent leader, the golden plover, and the lagging 

 dowitchers. The former, finding itself alone with- 

 out followers, rose above the. flock, took the new 

 direction and dived down with a few swift wing 

 beats, again the apparent leader of them all. The 



