Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 3 of 9.djvu/36

 on the ground amongst the brambles, the female being also close at hand. One of the males would sing quietly, chiefly imitating other species, and the other one would fly at him in a playful manner. All three birds would then leave, both males singing excitedly, the male from the adjoining territory retiring towards his own area, and the other male following the female in the undergrowth. After a short time the intruder would return and commence to sing, but would not interfere. Sometimes, when in the actual presence of the female, one of the males would sing while the other would fly at her with feathers ruffled, those on the head erected, and tail outspread, but on these occasions I could not be certain which male was the rightful owner. What, however, principally interested me when watching this episode, was to notice the manner in which the male who owned the territory, and who ultimately paired with the female, behaved towards the intruder. As I have already mentioned, whenever there is any question of ownership of breeding territory, even if a female is present, a severe struggle ensues, but in this instance this question was clearly absent, and there being nothing to fear from his neighbour, he treated him, as might be expected, with apparent indifference; this, indeed, was most conspicuous. Exactly a week after this incident, a female having arrived in the territory of the remaining unpaired male, pairing at once took place between them.

Where the males are numerous, two or even three pursue one another when a female is present, but I have only seen this taking place in the case of the later courtships, and it is very probable that some of the males that take part in such a pursuit may be already paired. Yet it is a pretty sight to watch them, since the flight is not always a rapid one—as is the case when they are sometimes fighting with one another—but very slow. They extend their wings fully and beat the air in the same way as when following the female. The flight is indeed so slow that their