Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 1 of 9.djvu/74

 their offspring, even under the most trying circumstances; for when I have been sitting with a young one on my hand they silently came and peeped through the branches, disappeared for a moment, and looked again from the opposite direction, but made no sound, neither did they attempt in any way to entice me away. At other times when, attracted by the call. I have attempted to find the young, the female has shown considerable anxiety. She would utter a note which was a peremptory signal for the young to keep quiet, neither would any one of them, although scattered and a considerable distance apart, call again until she gave another signal; waiting for which signal considerable patience on my part was required, for the slightest movement would make her suspicious, hidden though she appeared to be, and when her suspicions were aroused she would immediately come up to the top of the gorse bush on which she was and watch my movements closely, nor were, her suspicions allayed until I had kept quiet for a considerable time. She seems herself to do all the feeding of the young after they have left the nest, the males leading a lazy life, singing and playing with one another. One instance, and this a curious one. I have seen of the male feeding the young when almost full grown. It was in a large field of clover, and I could find no sign of the female at all. The young were scattered considerably, and at intervals between the feeding the male sat on a post and sang. When actually feeding one of the young he would spread out his tail and wings and slowly wave them up and down. The young, when able to fly a little, occasionally come out of their hiding, but if pursued and made to fly they very soon get tired, and if driven into an open piece of ground, where there is no cover for them to conceal themselves in, they become completely lost. This I have proved by manœuvring them on to patches of burnt gorse: here they would run aimlessly about and make no attempt to conceal themselves.

I have once seen, on June 17th, two of the adult birds