Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 3 of 9.djvu/52

 a second female the two males have a scolding contest, facing one another with tails outspread and feathers raised. I do not recollect having seen the two males actually fighting, such contests apparently ending in scolding only.

When excited the males will even sing as they fly. A female may join a pair that are quietly feeding, and when this occurs the male protests in a half-hearted manner, uttering his call-note quickly and turning about on the branches.

Most of the young are hatched during the first or second week in June, and the male shares, equally with the female, the duties of tending them. The male is now most excitable, and if an individual of another species approaches the nest too closely, immediately darts off in pursuit. When brooding he will not leave until almost touched, then flutters off, runs about the ground, squeals, and imitates the notes of other species.

Both of the parents are energetic, but in the presence of danger exhibit somewhat different characteristics. The male is always the bolder, and consequently it is a more difficult matter to persuade the female to overcome her alarm and approach her offspring when one is near the nest. This lack of courage on her part is very marked at all stages of their growth, whether they are just hatched or on the point of leaving the nest, or even after they have flown and all capable to some extent of escaping any danger. When, therefore, you first arrive at the nest you will find that the male, after making a few half-hearted efforts to reach it from different sides, will, while still protesting—which sometimes takes the form of singing even with his bill full of larvæ—make a dash at the nest, and while watching you carefully will dispose of the food, hurriedly placing it in the nearest open gape. With each successful effort his courage increases, and he thus becomes calmer, and before long feeds his offspring naturally. The case, however, is very different with the female. She arrives with her bill full of larvæ, disappears