[June 
1 26 Psyche 
Fig. 2. The average number of males seen at different times in the morning 
hovering in and around a flowering palo verde tree (solid line) and close to the 
ground near small bushes and by the edge of a mesquite tree along a census strip 
through an emergence site (dotted line). Each point represents 2^4 counts (mean = 
3.2) with the censuses made between 30 April - 3 May, 1976. 
to their hovering point. Conspecific males that come within a 
meter or two of a hoverer are usually pursued and I saw a few 
aggressive interactions with butting and very brief midair grap- 
pling bouts. These males might be considered territorial because 
of these rare aggressive events and the fact that hoverers are 
spaced a meter or more apart. Nevertheless, as noted in an earlier 
paper (Alcock et al., in press), the spatial distribution of hover- 
ing males may result from a generally passive dispersal of indi- 
viduals into available hovering areas rather than from the active, 
vigorous defense of chosen aerial stations. Many of the male- 
male pursuits probably involved attempts by the pursuer to de- 
termine if the passer-by were a receptive female. 
Hovering males were significantly less likely to be recaptured 
than males that had been patrolling prior to initial capture and 
marking (Table 1; X 2 = 5.02; d.f. = 1; P = 0.025). In addition. 
