Now the southern end of the Common is always inhabited by individuals
belonging to one of these species, or to others of close affinity; so
that wherever these travellers settle whilst passing across it, the
chances are that they will find the ground occupied--and their behaviour
under such circumstances is no less interesting than the behaviour of
the bird upon whose ground they are trespassing. We will take the case
of the Whinchat. It arrives from the south-west, and, flying from bush
to bush, works its way in a north-easterly direction. In doing so it
intrudes upon the territory of a Stonechat; and the Stonechat, becoming
excited, flies towards it, and it retires for a short distance in the
direction from whence it came. Here again it is followed and attacked
and again moves on, and then, flying in a circle as if to avoid the
territory which blocked the path, resumes its former line of flight,
though still followed by the Stonechat, which after continuing the
pursuit for perhaps a quarter of a mile, suddenly turns in the air and
returns to its headquarters.
It is difficult to put oneself in the place of the Stonechat or of the
Whinchat. But even after making due allowance for the danger inseparable
from any attempt to do so, there remains the unquestionable fact that
whereas the impulse to attack was strong in the one, the impulse to
defend itself was wholly lacking in the other. Yet a Whinchat, when it
has established itself, is most pugnacious; it not only attacks every
bird of a similar size that approaches its position, but its behaviour
under such circumstances bears the impress of unusual determination; and
if we were to take a male and place it in the position of the Stonechat,
we should find that its nature would change, that the presence of the
Stonechat would evoke a hostile response, and, conversely, that the
instinct of the Stonechat would not be susceptible to stimulation. Hence
it is clear that the nature of a bird when on migration is not quite the
same as it is when its destination is reached; that the positions
occupied from time to time during the journey carry no meaning, or,
rather, are not brought into relation with its life in quite the same
way as is the position which it finally occupies; and further, it is
clear that the interest it displays in other species undergoes a
somewhat remarkable transformation when at length its destination is
reached.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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