106 DISPOSITION TO DEFEND THE TERRITORY 



the attitude, also significant, which it adopted 

 towards the females ; for I take it that, apart 

 from the question of territory, the explanation of 

 its intrusion must be sought in the necessity for 

 securing a mate — that it was attracted by the 

 presence of the females, and that the proximate 

 end of its behaviour was the possession of one of 

 them. But if there is one thing that emerges 

 from the facts more clearly than another it is 

 that the course of its behaviour was in no way 

 influenced by the presence or absence of either 

 of the females. My reasons for saying so are 

 the following : in the first place, it made no 

 attempt to pursue or to thrust its attention upon 

 either one or the other of them ; secondly, it 

 even went so far as to attack and drive them 

 away when they approached too closely ; and in 

 the third place, when an unpaired female did at 

 length appear, it adopted a different attitude and 

 forthwith paired. And bearing in mind that 

 these two females had already been with their 

 respective mates for some considerable time, and 

 that there was reason to believe that coition had 

 actually taken place, is it likely that any counter- 

 attraction would have proved successful in 

 tempting either of them away from its mate, or 

 probable, if they were the sole attraction, that 

 the intruding male would have been so persistent 

 in remaining ? How very much simpler it is to 

 fit the pieces together, if for the time being we 

 ignore the female and fix our attention upon the 

 territory. Each item of behaviour then falls 

 into its proper place, and the fighting which 



