Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/101

stitution of the bird. In comparing the behaviour of the migratory male with that of the resident, attention was drawn to the manner in which the occupation of a territory was effected: the former bird, it may be remembered, established itself without delay, whereas the latter did so only by degrees, and the difference was attributed to the incidence of migration which required a closer correspondence between organic process and external environment. But the significance for us just now lies in the fact that the definiteness, which accompanies the initial behaviour of the migratory male in relation to the territory, cannot have been acquired by repetition; for this reason, that when the male occupies its space of ground at the end of its long and arduous journey, it does so without preparation or experiment, even without hesitation, as if aware that it was making good the first step in the process of reproduction. No doubt, if it happened to be an individual that had already experienced the enjoyment of reproduction, it might be aware of the immediate result^ to be achieved and act accordingly. But among the hosts of migrants that one observes, there must be many males which have not previously mated; and yet, upon arrival, they all behave in a similarly definite manner—so that experience cannot well be the primary factor in the situation. If, then, the essential condition of habit formation is absent and experience is eliminated, there is nothing left but racial preparation to fall back upon.