Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 8 of 9.djvu/67

 enough; a slight spreading of the wings and fluttering along the ground, but nothing more; nothing, in fact, that could not be described as a natural retreat. It is possible, however, that the emotional behaviour at this special time may exceed that which I have hitherto observed, as it must be apparent that my knowledge of the behaviour of the birds during this period is exceedingly scanty.

The male may almost be said to own two songs. The one by which he is usually recognised consists of a single note uttered more and more rapidly in a slightly descending scale until it culminates in a rapid trill; the other, which is heard less frequently, consists of a plaintive single note uttered rather slowly in a descending scale. Whether we are really justified in speaking of these two separate phases as distinct is open to question. It is true that the one portion is sometimes detached from the other, but when the bird is in full song I am inclined to think that each goes to form part of the whole. After the arrival of a female, the male becomes, careless in his song, and more frequently than not utters the last trill of the first phase and nothing more.

The food of the species is similar, so far as insect life is concerned, to that of the Willow Warbler or the Chiff-chaff; I have no evidence that fruit of any description is taken.