I9I9- BVRKITT.— Song and Nesting of Birds. 99 



in one case, instead of the male singing in the set of trees 



on the edge of which was the nest, and whence the young 



were fed, he spent the whole day in another set of trees 



separated by a wide open space, and his average position was 



120 3^ards from the nest. Another male's almost constant 



site was a small plantation distant from the nest 70 yards 



along one hedge and 80 yards along another, total 150 yards 



as his course would go. A third male spent much or most 



of his time 150 yards from the nest. I proved this several 



times by keeping the feeding female out of the nest long 



enough for her to make sufficient noise to bring him from 



where he was singing far away. Even when the male was not 



singing, and therefore a better listener, it has taken up to a 



couple of minutes' hard alarm before he arrived. He takes 



no part at all in feeding the young when in the nest. When 



thus summoned he frequently blurts a bar of song into the 



alarm as if he found it hard to keep off the song, and on the 



female being let back to her nest, he moves off, and sings 



louder as he gets further away. That is my experience at 



any rate. All Chiff chaffs' song died away between the 12th 



and 19th July. I disregard the slight autumn singing. As 



to second broods, in the one or two cases I knew of, there 



was not anything like the song at the first broods. But the 



upshot of it all is that the song of the mated male goes on 



practically during the whole season. Nevertheless I still 



think that an odd one of the most persistent and strongest 



singers is unmated. 



With the Willow- wren my luck was poor. But still I got 

 something of value. Beginning to arrive on the 17th April, 

 these birds could be heard everywhere on the 23rd. I saw 

 no male with a mate till on the 3rd May, thus again showing 

 the later female migration. Late males seemed to keep 

 arriving up to the 21st May. A couple of such males were a 

 week shifting about before settling on a final perch. I had 

 six singing birds more or less under observation, but only 

 three nests, and of these three only two from their commence- 

 ment, and one of these two was later destroyed, so that my 

 data in reference to actual broods is very weak. One of the 

 earliest arrivals (B) had a mate beginning the nest on the 

 9th May, having an egg on the 17th. The male was singing 



A2 



