If, then, there is in the call-notes an adequate means of communication
and of recognition, why do I suggest that the song has also been evolved
primarily for the purpose of recognition?
What, first of all, are the conditions in the life behaviour during the
season of reproduction that make the intervention of the voice a
consideration of such importance? The general result of our
investigation might be summed up thus: we found that the male inherits a
disposition to secure a territory, that at the proper season this
disposition comes into functional activity and leads to its
establishment in a definite place, and that it cannot search for a mate
because its freedom of action in this respect is forbidden by law; that
the female inherits no such disposition, that she is free to move from
place to place, free to satisfy her predominant inclination, and to seek
a mate where she wills; and, since the appropriate organic condition
which leads to pairing must coincide with appropriate conditions in the
environment, that the union of the sexes must be accomplished without
undue delay. Furthermore we found that a territory is essential if the
offspring are to be successfully reared; that, since the available
breeding ground is limited, competition for it is severe, and that the
male is precluded from leaving the ground which he has selected, and is
obliged, in order to secure a mate, to make himself conspicuous. That
was our general result. Now there are two ways by which the male can
make himself conspicuous--by occupying such a position that he can be
readily seen, or by producing some special sound which will be audible
to the female and direct her to the spot. The former, by itself, is
insufficient; in the dim light of the early dawn, when life is at its
highest, and mating proceeds apace, what aid would it be for a male to
perch on the topmost branch of a tree, how slender a guide in the depth
of the forest? But whether in the twilight or in the dark, in the
thicket or the jungle, on the mountain or on the moor, the voice can
always be heard--and the voice is the principal medium through which the
sexes are brought into contact.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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