Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 3 of 9.djvu/35

 but very pretty flapping flight, similar to that used by other species under stress of great excitement, he settles near her, and gives expression to his feelings by the long low plaintive whistle to which I have already referred when speaking of the contests for the breeding territory. If she happens to be calling him, he may possibly dart out at her, and they will then both twist and tumble about in the air. In some cases the male will keep returning to his particular branch at the top of some tree, from which, when the female is present, he darts headlong into the bushes, gradually working his way back again to the favourite branch. During the courtship there always seems to me a distinct unwillingness on the part of the male to go beyond the boundaries of his territory; the female often does so, and this, I believe, is a cause of their being apart from one another for short periods of time, and it may be that during these periods the male returns to his favourite branch, behaving as he usually does on his first arrival, but no doubt keeping a close watch on her movements. Sometimes a male is still more restless, and between the outbursts of excitement shown when in the vicinity of the female, will fly backwards and forwards over a considerable area, never many minutes in the same spot, but moving rapidly from tree to tree and bush to bush, occasionally bursting into song. As showing the degree of excitement of the male at this period, I have seen one, prior to the arrival of a female, executing a dance which consisted of a series of jumps up and down on a branch, giving the bird a very comical appearance. Such a dance is not an uncommon thing in bird-life, but generally—in the case of the Song-Thrush for instance—it consists of a series of bounds from side to side.

Where two unpaired males have territories adjoining, and a single female arrives in the territory of one of them, the other one sometimes leaves his own territory and follows her together with the rightful owner, both of them behaving in the usual manner. When thus engaged I have seen two males within a few feet of one another, almost, if not quite,