REVIEWS. 63 



previous parts for the rare species ; indeed, in the case of the 

 Greenish Willow- Warbler the author has not even taken the 

 trouble to discover that the bird recorded from Suleskerry 

 has been proved to be an example of P. horealis {cf. B.B., Vol. 

 II., p. 408 ; Vol. III., p. 297). A mistake once made is 

 certainly difficult to eradicate, but we had not expected a 

 perpetuation of this error in a work of so special a character. 



It is, however, the original information concerning the 

 habits of our common warblers that makes Mr. Howard's 

 work so valuable. Although there are many points of simi- 

 larity in the " courting " habits of the birds the author 

 has so far dealt A\ith, there are also many slight but important 

 differences. In the case of the Common Whitethroat we find, 

 as in other warblers, the male arriving in advance of the 

 female and occupying a definite territor}^, and battles ensuing 

 when one invades the territory of another ; further than this, 

 Mr. Howard has watched the females fighting together when 

 two have appeared in the same territory, and this he has not 

 observed in any species other than the Wliitethroat. This 

 bird is indeed particularly excitable, as must have been noticed 

 by everyone, and the author mentions an extraordinary case 

 when a male in his " frenzied excitement " actually built a nest 

 before the arrival of the female, and curiously enough this 

 nest was ultimately used for rearing the offspring ; in another 

 case a male, during the course of his sexual excitement (the 

 female being present this time) built two incomplete nests 

 and part of a third, M'liich the female eventually completed. 

 Like the Blackcap (and other birds) the Whitethroat removes 

 the fxces of the nestlings and frequently swallows them ; 

 by a chance experiment Mr. Howard has found that if a leaf 

 be placed in the nest the bkd will attemj)t to swallow it — 

 an interesting fact and one which should be noted especially 

 by those who are wont to claim too much intelligence for the 

 " lower " animals. An incident is also related which goes far 

 to prove that parental instinct disappears in the absence of a 

 proper response from the young. 



In his life-history of the Lesser Whitethroat the author 

 enters into an interesting discussion on the origin and meaning 

 of a bird assuming an attitude of feigned injury when its young 

 are threatened. Mr. Howard having already come to the 

 conclusion that what are commonly called " courting " 

 displays, are but expressions of emotional states, is now 

 inclined to believe that " feigning injury " may be explained 

 in the same way, and this because he finds that the attitudes 

 assumed by the female Lesser Whitethroat when its young 



