98 DISPOSITION TO DEFEND THE TERRITORY 



"position," which alone seems to me sufficient 

 ground for believing that the fighting has refer- 

 ence to the territory. But it is not the whole of 

 the evidence. 



Now if it were possible to demonstrate by 

 actual observation that those males which had 

 not established territories were not pugnacious, 

 we should have something in the nature of proof 

 of the correctness of this view. Demonstrative 

 evidence of this kind is, however, unattainable. 

 Yet we can come very near to obtaining it by 

 reason of a peculiar feature which marks the pro- 

 cess of acquiring territory — the neutral ground. 

 The Lapwing will serve as an illustration. In 

 the previous chapter I referred to the small flocks 

 that appeared in the accustomed water meadow 

 early in February, and I described how they 

 settled day after day in that meadow, but only 

 in a limited part of it, where they passed their 

 time in rest, in preening their feathers, or in 

 running this way and that lazily searching for 

 food ; and how, at length, the flock dwindled by 

 reason of individuals breaking away in order to 

 secure positions on the remaining part of the 

 meadow. Here the neutral ground is adjacent 

 to the territories, and, while stiU occupied by 

 the flock, is resorted to by the males that had 

 deserted that flock in order to establish those 

 territories. 



Suppose now that we have the whole 

 meadow in view from some point of vantage. 

 In front of us are the territories, in the distance 

 the neutral ground ; and in each territory there 



