5i6 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



stellation, and somewhere in the organisation of the living bird they 

 have a common structural link." "The whole has value, the parts 

 by themselves have none." 



Mr. Howard begins with the reproductive behaviour of a reed- 

 bunting, and distinguishes four phases. In the first, the female does 

 not figure as a "situational item", and the male is much occupied 

 with his "territory" or preserve, for example, a certain alder-tree 

 and the ground round about it. In some measure he continues doing 

 what he did before, making excursions to the wonted feeding-ground 

 and meeting his old companions. What is new is his persistent song, 

 his preoccupation with his territory, and his growing hostility 

 towards other males. The old and the new are contrary, yet they 

 jx^rsist side by side. 



In the second phase, about the middle of March, the female begins 

 to play her part, affecting neighbouring males in diverse ways 

 according to their individual physiological state. She is chased with 

 eagerness, but seems to try to escape ; for though she excites others, 

 she is not herself in a condition to breed. The male fights furiously 

 with rivals; he expresses excitement (a) by a new rippling note, low 

 and musical; {b) by a peculiar kind of slow sex-flight, now butterfly- 

 like and again moth-like; (c) by quite peculiar expansions and 

 vibrations of wings and tail. All the time, however, the alder-tree 

 and the rush patch have for him a commanding attractiveness. It 

 is only gradually that they extend their influence through him to 

 the female. For at first she is anything but intrigued by sexual 

 excitement on the part of the attracted male, who sings and postures 

 and pursues; she may indeed fly to another alder and feed with 

 another male, or be chased by several suitors. Gradually, however, 

 as the days pass and her physiological condition changes, she attends 

 to her would-be mate's movements more closely and follows them; 

 she observes his boundaries and becomes attached to the territory; 

 she watches a combat with some excitement ; and finally she herself 

 fights against intruders, fights as her mate fights, though less 

 viciously. 



The third phase is marked by coition, nest-building, and the 

 laying of eggs. There is a great change in the female's behaviour, 

 for she now pursues her mate, settles near him, extends and rapidly 

 flutters a wing, and harasses him, as he used to harass her, until 

 she is satisfied. This beginning of sexual function apparently syn- 

 chronises with her first hints of nest-building. These hints are at 

 first very vague and dcsuhory. She breaks off a i)iece of rush, holds 

 it attentively, flies to tlie tree, drops it casualh', and turns to preen 

 her feathers! A few days later she tears off another piece and lays 

 it in the centre of a clump of rushes near the headquarters of the 

 territory. In a few minutes she does the same for another clump, 

 and then for another! About a fortnight after she plucked the first 



