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Updated: June 14, 2025
And since such a radical departure from the normal routine of behaviour could scarcely appear generation after generation in so many widely divergent forms, and still be so uniform in occurrence each returning season, if it were not founded upon some congenital basis, it is probable that the journey, whether it be the extensive one of the Warbler or the short one of the Reed-Bunting, is undertaken in response to some inherited disposition, and probable also that the disposition bears some relation to the few acres in which the bird ultimately finds a resting place.
Let us see how this may have operated in determining the limits of the area acquired, and for this purpose let us suppose that we are observing a male Reed-Bunting recently established in some secluded piece of marsh land.
During the period between the initial discharge of the sexual function and the time when incubation draws to a close, much may happen to prejudice the future of the offspring; there is always the possibility of invasion by an individual whose development is backward or which has been unsuccessful in making good the first step, and, as we saw in the case of the Reed-Bunting, a portion of the ground won may be lost; there is always the danger of gradual encroachment by neighbouring owners; and there is even a possibility that a pair may be so persistently harassed by more virile neighbours as to forsake the locality permanently.
Why does the Reed-Bunting cling so tenaciously to an acre or more of marshy ground, while the Guillemot rests content with a few square feet on a particular ledge of rock? The answer is the same in both cases to facilitate reproduction. But why should a small bird require so many square yards, whilst a very much larger one is satisfied with so small an area?
Reason in animals. Redstart, American, breeding in immature plumage. Redstarts, new mates found by. Reduvidae, stridulation of. Reed-bunting, head-feathers of the male; attacked by a bullfinch. Reefs, fishes frequenting. Reeks, H., retention of horns by breeding deer; cow rejected by a bull; destruction of piebald rabbits by cats. Regeneration, partial, of lost parts in man. Regent bird.
Now it is difficult to believe that a chance visit, even though repeated for a few mornings in succession, could have accounted for the Reed-Bunting remaining so persistently in the marsh, or the Whitethroat in one corner of the osier bed, or the Reed-Warbler in that one particular willow.
I shall now give a brief account of the conduct of a male Reed-Bunting which by persistent effort established itself late in the season, and I shall do so because its behaviour tends to confirm much that has been said in the preceding pages. Early in March three male Reed-Buntings occupied a small water meadow overgrown with the common rush, and by the third week all of them were paired.
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