the door and after the others were inside eating she jumped on the string once with the door open. In the seventh the Junco was successful, but the rival must first be chased away. Such control of the situation was not to last long, for in" the fourteenth test the tables were turned and the female Sparrow proved now the better fighter. This as is stated in the table was probably due to the fact that she was not in good physical condition. It is often to be noted that such condition in the Sparrows causes them to be more pugnacious. It has been observed when these have had to chase the Cowbirds away.
The number of efforts required for the Junco to open the door was often very large and this continued throughout the whole of this series. The reason for this may be seen in Fig. 12. This bird often simply jumped astride String B without touching it. Frequently she must continue to jump until she does strike the string with one claw, usually the lower one. Certainly such a method do^s not point to a great degree of analysis of the task to be performed and which is performed. If she does this by imitation it is certainly of the blind sort. As to whether or not there is imitation the facts to be recorded now may give an answer.
In the seventeenth test the female Sparrow ran in from the window and made an attempt very quickly and just after the Junco had tried; when one approached the strings the other did so too. The rivalry was more intense.[1] In the succeeding test the Junco tried on the door at the same time and after the Sparrow was on the strings. Boiled rice had been placed in the box with the expectation that the female Sparrow would try harder. Such was really the case.
In the nineteenth test the female Sparrow would not allow the Junco to come near the box. During this test the reason occurred to me, for the fact that the female Sparrow finally opened the door by jumping on the top string, D. When she jumped lower than this there was space enough between the strings for her to alight without striking any of them, but not so at the top. The upper edge of the box crowded her down, as it were, so that in jumping to the wire she pushed in string D. This is strikingly similar in the lack of analysis of the relations of parts of the box to the Junco' s great number of efforts, and prepares us to understand certain mistakes of the Bluebirds to be recorded later.
- ↑ The word "rivalry" is here used simply to indicate the struggle between these birds and does not imply that the writer regards it as the same as human rivalry.
