ns its
feathers, or searches for food; then it vanishes, rising into the air
and flying in one fixed direction as far as the eye can follow, until it
becomes a speck upon the horizon and is ultimately lost to view. During
these excursions it rejoins the small composite flocks which still
frequent the fields and farm buildings. For a time the hedgerow is
deserted and the bird remains with its companions. But one does not have
to wait long for the return; it reappears as suddenly as it vanished,
flying straight back to the few acres which constitute its territory,
back even to the same gate-post or railing, where it again sings. This
simple routine may be repeated quite a number of times during the first
two hours or so of daylight, with, of course, a certain amount of
variation; on one occasion the bird may be away for a few minutes only,
on another for perhaps half an hour, whilst sometimes it will fly for a
few hundred yards, hesitate, and then return--all of which shows clearly
enough that these few acres possess some peculiar significance and are
capable of exercising a powerful influence upon the course of its
behaviour. And so the disposition in relation to the territory becomes
dominant in the life of the bird.

Or take the case of the Chaffinch. In winter large or small flocks can
be found in many varied situations. But in the latter part of February,
or the early days of March, these flocks begin to disperse. At daylight
males can then be observed in all kinds of situations, either calling
loudly, uttering their spring note, or exercising their vocal powers to
the full; and it will be found that, in the majority of instances, these
males are solitary individuals, that they pass the early hours of the
morning alone, and that their normal routine of calling, singing, or
searching for food, is only interrupted by quarrels with their
neighbours. The same locality is visited regularly--not only the same
acre or so of ground, but even the same elm or oak, has, as its daily
occupant, the same cock Chaffinch. And temporary desertions from the
territory occur also, much like those referred to in the life of the
Bunting, but perhaps not so frequently. One has grown so accustomed
during the dark days of winter to the sociable side of Chaffinch
behaviour--to the large flocks searching for food, to the endless stream
of individuals returning in the evening to roost in the holly-trees, to
the absence of song--that this radica