and one could observe the open bill which
generally denotes exhaustion, but may of course have been due to anger,
or used as a means of producing terror. Yet no female appeared in the
locality until six days after the occurrence of this struggle--and
she certainly is not easily overlooked, for her note is unmistakable
even when the behaviour of the male does not betray her arrival.

[Illustration: Male Cuckoos fighting before the arrival of a female

Emery Walker ph.sc.]

That the actual presence of the respective females exercised any
influence on the course of these struggles is more than doubtful. Not
only did one fail to detect them, but one's failure to do so was
confirmed by the knowledge that they had not yet arrived in those
particular localities. Hence the fact of the male preceding the female
is a valuable aid to the interpretation of subsequent behaviour; and one
appreciates it the more after having experienced the difficulty of
deciding whether she is present during the conflicts between resident
males, for no matter how carefully we may observe the conditions which
lead up to, and which accompany, such conflicts, or how closely we may
scrutinise the surrounding trees, undergrowth, or ground, there always
remains the possibility that she may, after all, have been overlooked.
But this must not be taken to imply that in such cases direct
observation alone can lead to no serviceable result, or that the
evidence gained therefrom is worthless. Far from it. Failure to detect a
female is so very common an occurrence that, even if we lacked the
corroborative evidence supplied in the life of the migratory male, it
would still be unreasonable to suppose that it were solely due to
mistaken observation. We mark her absence during the conflicts between
the respective males of many common species--the Finches, Buntings, and
Thrushes that occupy their territories early in the season when the
hedgerows and trees are still bare; but more frequently amongst those
that inhabit open ground, because the movements of the birds are there
more accessible to observation. For instance, half a dozen or more
Lapwings can be kept in view at the same time, and as they stand at dawn
in solitary state, keeping watch upon their respective territories, they
are conspicuous objects on the short, frosted grass; no stranger can
enter the arena without the observer being aware of it, no commotion can
occur but one detects it, no movement howev