52 DISPOSITION TO SECURE A TERRITORY 



But the rarer species behave similarly. Districts 

 frequented by the Marsh- Warbler and offering 

 plenty of situations of the type required by the 

 bird are often inhabited by a few members only, 

 and yet the disposition to remain in a definite 

 position is just as marked. 



You will say, however, that these smaller 

 migrants have no exceptional powers of flight ; 

 that they have besides just completed a long 

 and arduous journey; and you will ask why 

 they should be expected to wander, whether it 

 is not more reasonable to expect that, in order 

 to overcome their fatigue, they should remain 

 where they settle. The Cuckoo is a wanderer 

 in the wider sense of the term, and is gifted with 

 considerable powers of flight. Upon arrival the 

 male flies briskly from field to field, showing but 

 little signs of weariness ; yet we have only to 

 follow its movements for a few days in succession 

 to assure ourselves that the bird is no longer 

 a wanderer ; for just as the Warbler or the Chat 

 moves only within a definitely delimited area, 

 so the male Cuckoo, strange as it may seem, 

 restricts itself to a particular tract of land. 

 The area over which it wanders is often con- 

 siderable and consequently it is not possible to 

 keep the bird always in view, but inasmuch 

 as the variation in the voices of different 

 individuals is quite appreciable, identification is 

 really a simple matter. . If we cannot keep the 

 bird in sight, we can trace its movements by 

 sound and mark the extent of its wanderings, 

 which by repetition become more and more 



