82 DISPOSITION TO DEFEND THE TERRITORY 



Whitethroats which happened in the latter part 

 of April and lasted for three successive days. 

 The scene of its occurrence was more or less the 

 same on each occasion, and the area over which 

 the birds wandered was comparatively small. 

 The fighting was characterised by persistent 

 effort and was of a most determined kind, and 

 so engrossed did the assailants become that they 

 even fluttered to the ground at my feet. No 

 trace of a female was to be seen at any time 

 during these three days, nor, during the pauses 

 in the conflict, was the emotional behaviour of 

 a kind which led me to suppose that a female 

 was anywhere in the vicinity. And, if she had 

 been near, she must have made her presence 

 known, for the belief that she is a timid creature, 

 skulking on such occasions in the undergrowth, 

 is by no means borne out by experience. 



Even more impressive was a battle between 

 two male Cuckoos. It occurred high up in the 

 air above the tops of some tall elm-trees which 

 roughly marked the boundary line between their 

 respective areas, and the actions of the birds 

 were plainly visible. At the moment of actual 

 collision the opponents were generally in a 

 vertical position, and wings, feet, and beaks were 

 made use of in turn ; one could plainly see them 

 strike at one another with their feet, and one 

 could observe the open bill which generally 

 denotes exhaustion, but may of course have been 

 due to anger, or used as a means of producing 

 terror. Yet no female appeared in the locality until 

 six days after the occurrence of this struggle — and 



