BEHAVIOUR OF RESIDENT MALES 33 



fact of its occupation of a territory. This 

 is surely a remarkable change, and the females 

 in the meantime continue their winter routine. 



One other example. The monotonous call 

 of the Greenfinch is probably familiai to all. 

 In winter these birds accompany other Finches 

 and form with them flocks of varying sizes, but 

 in the spring the flocks disperse, and the Green- 

 finch, in common with other units of the flock, 

 alters its mode of life. But whereas the 

 Chaffinch or the Bunting begins to acquire 

 its territory in February, the Greenfinch only 

 does so in April. When the organic changes 

 do at length begin to make themselves felt, 

 the male seeks a position of its own, and 

 having found one remains there, uttering its 

 characteristic call. But owing probably to the 

 fact that it is much later than the afore- 

 mentioned species in acquiring a territory, 

 temporary desertions are not so much in evi- 

 dence. The species is so very plentiful, and 

 the bird is so prone to nest in gardens and 

 shrubberies surrounding human habitations, that 

 this seasonal change in its routine of existence 

 cannot fail to be noticed. One can hear its 

 call in every direction, one can watch the 

 same individual in the same tree ; and it is 

 the male that is thus seen and heard, the 

 female appears later. Thus the behaviour falls 

 into line with that of the Bunting or the 

 Chaffinch. 



The behaviour of these resident species 

 throws some light upon the early arrival of the 



