102 DISPOSITION TO DEFEND THE TERRITORY 



a pause drove another away, and so on until 

 by degrees all the invaders were banished, and 

 the No. 2 male did likewise. The interest of 

 this incident lies, however, in the behaviour of 

 the different individuals of which the flock 

 was composed ; when attacked they made no 

 real show of resistance, but accepted the situation 

 and left. The will to fight was clearly lacking, 

 yet their presence was a source of annoyance to 

 the owners of the territories. A short time 

 previously a female had accompanied one of 

 the males and was at that time somewhere in 

 the vicinity, but beyond this there was no 

 evidence to show that either of them were 

 paired, and even if the presence of the female 

 were the reason of the pugnacity of the one, 

 it could not well account for that of the 

 other. 



The neutral ground does not always happen 

 to be so close at hand as in the case of the 

 meadow referred to. Sometimes the birds will 

 resort to a particular field, attracted probably 

 by a plentiful supply of food, and here they 

 collect and behave as they do during the winter, 

 running this way and that as the fancy takes 

 them, meeting together by accident at one 

 moment, parting at another, according to the 

 direction in which they happen to wander. 

 Of animosity there is little sign ; the season 

 might be the middle of winter instead of the 

 middle of March for all the indication there 

 is of sexual development, and yet one knows 

 that they will behave differently when they 



