Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 2 of 9.djvu/57

 of any undue interference with Nature, and at the same time realise, in some small degree, the vastness of the natural laws that are in force around us. To the fruit grower, and especially to the rose grower, these birds are invaluable. To watch them hunting a garden is an education in itself.

The young are principally fed on the larvæ of the abovementioned insects, and to some extent on Chironomidæ and Tipula oleracea (Daddy-long-legs). When old enough to follow their parents in gardens or amongst the oaks, their appetites are almost inexhaustible. Both old and young find food on the bare ground, for they are fond of searching between the rows of peas, and also in the potato drills. In the autumn they spend considerable time amongst the willows, the reason probably being that insect life is daily becoming scarce, and it is consequently more likely to be found in damp places where the different species of salix grow. It must not be supposed that this list exhausts the food supply of the species, but it constitutes a very large part of it. It will be noticed that it includes two of the most destructive pests—Tipula oleracea and Chimatobia brumata; I need not, therefore, enlarge further on the benefits this species confers on agricultural interests generally.

The song, from which they take their name, needs little description. As the summer advances it becomes rather monotonous, for they are the most persistent of singers, seldom silent, except in the middle of the day and during part of August. When they first arrive in the spring it is rather more vigorous. It consists of two notes, one rather higher than the other, but the first note is sometimes uttered two or three times before the last; also there is often at the beginning and end a curious little medley, rapidly and quietly uttered. I have never heard one really attempt to imitate another species, although I remember hearing one male with a song like a Cole-tit (Parus ater), but this song was mingled with the ordinary notes.