176 BRITISH HIRDS. [vol. vi. 



sprouting barbs by the sixth. Thencefor\\ard growth 

 is rapid and the young bird is sufficiently fledged to 

 leave the nest on the twelfth day ; the primaries are 

 hardly more than half-grown and the tail not more 

 than an inch long when this takes place, so that life 

 for the next few days is mainly a creeping one amongst 

 the undergrowth in the immediate vicinity of the nest. 

 All young Warblers are very skulking in habits, and 

 juvenile Nightingales are if possible more than usually- 

 so ; it is exceedingly difficult, therefore, to get a 

 glimpse of them in their tangled retreats. This spring 

 I spent an hour or more every day A^atching in the 

 vicinity of the nest for ten days after the young had 

 left it. The old birds were constantly visible and very 

 anxious, frequently giving vent to their whisthng and 

 harsh notes, often within a few^ yards, but I only once 

 caught a brief glimpse of one of the young. 



