Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 8 of 9.djvu/36

 Though by no means so finished a songster as the Blackcap, the bird nevertheless owns a beautiful warble, with which fault can only be found on the score of monotony. There is little range of tone in the song, none of those remarkable, almost passionate, variations which indicate great vocal development, and, so far as I can discover, very little tendency to imitate the sounds produced by other species. The ordinary call note is a single harsh note uttered slowly or rapidly according to the emotional state of the bird, and is similar, or nearly so, in both sexes. In addition to this note there is the quiet "purring" of sexual or parental emotion. The note of the young is somewhat similar to that of the young of the Blackcap, but impossible to describe.

The food consists principally of insects, green larvæ forming the staple diet of the young; on one occasion I observed some individuals early in the season feeding upon the young shoots of the common Norway spruce. Fruit also is not refused when the opportunity for securing it arises, and in the autumn large quantities of elder berries are consumed.