152 RELATION OF SONG TO THE TERRITORY 



from molestation. The advantage of the song, 

 biologically considered, is then this, that it will 

 often prove just sufficient to preclude males 

 in search of isolation from coming into contact 

 with the environmental conditions adequate to 

 supply the stimulus to their latent activities 

 and to convert them into rivals. 



If this interpretation be correct, if we are 

 right in attributing the withdrawal solely to 

 the fact that the first stage only in the relational 

 series has been reached, it follows that the 

 effect of song upon males that have reached 

 subsequent stages in that series must be of a 

 very different kind. We have dealt with the 

 male when in the preliminary stage of seeking 

 isolation, we must deal with it now when 

 eventually it occupies a territory. How does 

 it behave when it hears, as it is bound to do, 

 the voices of rivals in its neighbourhood ? You 

 may remember that some allusion was made 

 to the fact that an outburst of song from one 

 individual was followed, not unfrequently, by a 

 similar outburst on the part of other individuals 

 in the immediate locality. For example, silence 

 may reign in the reed-bed except for an occasional 

 note of the Reed- Warbler or Sedge- Warbler. 

 Suddenly, however, a dispute arises between two 

 individuals, accompanied by a violent outburst 

 of song, and forthwith other males in the 

 vicinity begin to sing excitedly and continue 

 doing so for some minutes in a strangely 

 vigorous manner, the tumult of voices affording 

 a striking contrast to the previous silence. 



