July
or does it stand for something deeper, a something that may mean the home or trysting place of the male, the spot at which the female first finds or hears him, and to which she can at any time return, for in the bird world I think it is the female that finds (not necessarily seeks) the male, and not the male who seeks the female? In support of this, why is it that at migration time so many males of different species (far more than is generally supposed) come in advance of the females, some a few days, others again even a few weeks. I would suggest they come for the purpose of selecting some area of ground over which they can hold sway, in other words they nominally select the general nesting site, to which the females may come either accidentally, or as is most probably the case (especially with the warblers), by hearing the males singing from their favourite trees or other posts, which also act as look-out stations, from which they can sally forth and drive all other interlopers away. Taking the case of the Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniccus phoeniceus) and Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) which nest near my house, the males in both cases arrive many days in advance of the females, thirty-two in the case of the former, and seven in that of the latter, these being averages for the past six years. Immediately on arrival the males take up their stations, the first named on the marsh, (where they are usually found early in the morning and late in the afternoon, the rest of the day being spent in the adjacent stubble fields) and the latter on certain meadows just in front of my house, and there later on, as well as on the marsh in the case of the Red-winged Blackbirds, will the nests be surely found, thus clearly indicating. I think, that the males in both these instances really selected or established the general nesting site. In further support of this matter it may be remembered that in the spring of 1912 as already recorded[1], Red-winged Blackbirds were unusually numerous, the males on arrival frequenting several new localities, where later on, when the females appeared, nests were duly constructed. Since then the males have never frequented those localities nor have any nests been found, which again is suggestive, I think, of the influence they have exerted in the matter.
- ↑ 'Auk,' Vol. XXXIII, 1916, p. 168.
