Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 1 of 9.djvu/70

 by insects, one of them, with a billful of food, went to the nest within a few feet of me. Upon my taking up the same position at daylight, the birds, losing a great deal of their fear, continued with the care of their young. In going to or leaving their nest they always ran, and so much do they resemble mice that I was once completely taken in, believing that what I saw was in reality a mouse. One of the parent birds once raised its wings in a threatening attitude, but this was the only occasion on which they showed any sign of objection to my presence. A note was frequently uttered by both sexes, but it seemed to me to be only a call-note to the young, probably to keep them quiet: the male sang at intervals very quietly, and the young, when being fed, uttered tiny squeaks.

When feeding the young they bring billfuls of insects, or to be more accurate, lumps of squashed insects, and by examining these lumps it is possible to find out what their food consists of. Wait until one approaches you on the way to the nest, then make a sudden movement or a step forward, and the food will in most cases be dropped. Their dexterity in collecting the insects is marvellous; even when their bill appears to be full they still continue darting at an aphis here and a gnat there, adding them to the lump, yet never dropping any of that already gathered, so quick are their movements.

The young leave the nest when only a few days old, and until able to fly are most difficult to find, concealed as they are in the dense undergrowth; but in the study of Nature it may with considerable truth be said that "all things come to him who waits." Having ascertained the position of a nest from which the young have only lately gone, go there soon after sunrise and get well hidden. You will hear the hum of insects commencing and gaining in strength, as in response to the intensifying rays of the sun each one begins his daily toil; you will hear an insect with a very small far-away squeak, which for a time will puzzle you, but since