TERRITORY IN BIRD LIFE 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



In his Manual of Psychology Dr Stout reminds 

 us that " Human language is especially con- 

 structed to describe the mental states of human 

 beings, and this means that it is especially 

 constructed so as to mislead us when we attempt 

 to describe the working of minds that differ in 

 a great degree from the human." 



The use of the word " territory " in con- 

 nection with the sexual life of birds is open to 

 the danger which we are here asked to guard 

 against, and I propose, therefore, before attempt- 

 ing to establish the theory on general grounds, 

 to give some explanation of what the word is 

 intended to represent and some account of the 

 exact position that representation is supposed to 

 occupy in the drama of bird life. 



The word is capable of much expansion. 

 There cannot be territories without boundaries 

 of some description ; there cannot well be 

 boundaries without disputes arising as to those 

 boundaries ; nor, one would imagine, can there 

 be disputes without consciousness as a factor 

 entering into the situation ; and so on, until by 



