THE MEANING OF THE FIGHTING 109 



whilst it is following the plough — all of which 

 points to a relation between the territory and the 

 fighting. And this view has at least one merit 

 — it accounts for all the fighting no matter what 

 degree of severity may be reached or in what 

 way the sexes may be involved. The complexity 

 of the strife presents no obstacle ; for if the 

 biological end of the fighting is to render the 

 territory, which has already been established, 

 secure from intrusion, each sex will have its 

 allotted part to play at the allotted time : thus 

 the battles between the males before females 

 appear on the scene will decide the initial 

 question of ownership ; those between the 

 females will give an advantage to the more 

 virile members and insure an even distribution 

 of mates for the successful males ; the constant 

 struggles between paired males will roughly 

 maintain the boundaries and prevent such 

 encroachment as might hamper the supply of 

 food for the young ; and the co-operation of 

 male and female in defence of the territory will 

 be an additional safeguard. Each form of battle 

 will contribute some share towards the main 

 biological function of reproduction. 



Hitherto we have dealt principally with the 

 male. We have referred, it is true, to the fact 

 that the female co-operates with her mate in 

 order to drive away intruders, but beyond this, 

 we have made no attempt to trace what part, if 

 any, she plays in the whole scheme. We must 

 do so now. 



