SUMMARY 207 



To sum up : the territory is useful in various 

 ways, but not necessarily in the same way 

 for every species. Reproduction would always 

 have remained fortuitous, and the number of 

 individuals that attained to it would seldom 

 have reached the possible maximum unless some 

 provision had been included in its system for 

 insuring that the males and females could meet 

 at the proper moment and afterwards remain in 

 touch with one another, and that the number of 

 pairs inhabiting a given area did not exceed the 

 available means of support. I have tried to 

 show that the inclusion of a disposition to secure 

 a territory tends to remove these difficulties. 

 In the first place, the disposition which leads to 

 its occupation comes into functional activity (in 

 the male) early in the season ; and so, by the 

 time that the appropriate pairing condition 

 arises in the females, the process of acquiring 

 territories is well advanced, and the males being 

 regularly distributed, each in its respective 

 position, are readily found by their prospective 

 mates. The behaviour of each sex is thus 

 adjusted to further the end of mutual discovery. 

 Next, after mating has taken place, the position 

 occupied by the male acts as a headquarters to 

 which the birds can always repair, and becomes 

 a bond of union which is serviceable in that it 

 prevents any possibility of their drifting apart. 

 And in the third place, the males become 

 pugnacious and in this way secure for themselves 

 areas which vary in size according to the 

 conditions of existence of the species, so that 



