222 WARFARE BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPECIES 



of its opponents. This, indeed, was shown by- 

 its subsequent behaviour, for whenever a Tit 

 became temporarily detached from its com- 

 panions it hesitated no longer but forthwith 

 attacked. 



There are other species which are no less 

 aggressive than the Warblers— the Chats for 

 example. The Stonechat regards with suspicion 

 almost any bird of its own size, and will even 

 pursue a Tree-Pipit if it approaches too closely. 

 The same is true of the Whinchat, and one 

 would scarcely expect to find this bird attacking 

 Buntings as it sometimes does. A Whinchat 

 that occupied some marshy ground was con- 

 stantly at war with a pair of Reed-Buntings; 

 their territories were adjacent and in some 

 measure overlapped, and the Whinchat drove 

 away either sex indiscriminately, and was not 

 only always the aggressor but seemed to be 

 master of the situation. 



Coming now to kindred forms, those, that 

 is to say, which belong to the same family, we 

 find that, both in intensity and extent, the 

 warfare far exceeds anything that we have thus 

 far considered. So frequent, indeed, are acts 

 of intolerance, and so readily awakened into 

 activity is the pugnacious nature of the bird, 

 that the fighting will almost bear comparison 

 in volume with that which occurs between 

 individuals of the same species. Between the 

 Thrush and the Blackbird there are incessant 

 quarrels early in the year, and the initiative 

 seems to pass from one to the other according to 



