One other example. The monotonous call of the Greenfinch is probably
familiar to all. In winter these birds accompany other Finches and form
with them flocks of varying sizes, but in the spring the flocks
disperse, and the Greenfinch, in common with other units of the flock,
alters its mode of life. But whereas the Chaffinch or the Bunting begins
to acquire its territory in February, the Greenfinch only does so in
April. When the organic changes do at length begin to make themselves
felt, the male seeks a position of its own, and having found one remains
there, uttering its characteristic call. But owing probably to the fact
that it is much later than the aforementioned species in acquiring a
territory, temporary desertions are not so much in evidence. The species
is so very plentiful, and the bird is so prone to nest in gardens and
shrubberies surrounding human habitations, that this seasonal change in
its routine of existence cannot fail to be noticed. One can hear its
call in every direction, one can watch the same individual in the same
tree; and it is the male that is thus seen and heard, the female appears
later. Thus the behaviour falls into line with that of the Bunting or
the Chaffinch.
The behaviour of these resident species throws some light upon the early
arrival of the males which we are endeavouring to explain in the case of
the migrants. Let us see how their actions compare. The male resident
deserts the female early in the year and establishes itself in a
definite position, where it advertises its presence by song; the male
migrant travels from a great distance, arrives later, and also
establishes itself in a definite position, where it, too, advertises its
presence by song. The male resident passes only the earlier part of the
day in its territory at the commencement of the period of occupation;
the male migrant remains there continuously from the moment it arrives.
The male resident deserts its territory at intervals, even in the
morning; the male migrant betrays no inclination to do so. Thus there is
a very close correspondence between the behaviour of the two, and what
difference there is--slight after all--cannot be said to affect the main
biological end of securing territory. One is apt to think of the problem
of migration in terms of the species instead of in terms of the
individual. One pictures a vast army of birds travelling each spring
over many miles of sea and land, and finally establishing themselves in
different quarters of the globe; and so it comes about, I suppose, that
a country or some well-defined but extensive area is regarded as the
destination, the ultimate goal, of the wanderers. But the resident male
has a journey to perform, short though it may be; it, too, has a
destination to reach, neither a country nor a locality, but a place
wherein the rearing of offspring can be safely accomplished, and it,
too, arrives in that place in advance of the female.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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