78 DISPOSITION TO DEFEND THE TERRITORY 



behave as if they were continuously attentive, 

 looking forward beyond the immediately present 

 experience in preparation for what is to come. 

 They apparently watch, wait, search, are on the 

 alert. They also behave exactly as if they 

 appreciated a difference between relative success 

 and failure, trying again when a certain percep- 

 tible result is not attained and varying their 

 procedure in so far as it has been unsuccessful. 

 All these characters are found in the first nest- 

 building of birds as well as in the second ; they 

 are found also in courses of conduct which occur 

 only once in the lifetime of the animal." Both 

 these writers would, I imagine, contend that, 

 even when a female is absent, the idea of the 

 female, as the end in view throughout, is 

 present ; and they would argue that the fact 

 of her absence during the fighting in no way 

 disposes of the belief that she is the condition 

 under which the pugnacious instinct of the 

 male is rendered susceptible to stimulation. 

 What reason is there to think that this inter- 

 pretation is applicable to the case under con- 

 sideration ? When a female is present, we 

 observe that the males are pugnacious, and, 

 when she is absent, that they still continue to 

 be hostile — that is to say, they behave as if she 

 were present. Now, as far as I can ascertain, 

 the "as if" is the only ground there is for 

 supposing that the female is represented in 

 imaginal form — there is no evidence of the 

 fact, if fact it be. On the contrary, the behaviour 

 of the male affords some fairly conclusive evidence 



