40 THE WARBLERS 



May evening. As with all these small warblers, I have generally found 

 the female whitethroat more courageous when a camera has to be 

 faced. The males will always forage for the females ; but it is some 

 time before they screw up their courage to the point of going them- 

 selves to the nest. 



While engaged in feeding the young, lesser-whitethroats often 

 perform very curious acrobatic feats. They may be seen clinging to a 

 bit of coarse vegetation in a vertical position, and so thrusting food 

 down the eager gaping throats. The other members of this family 

 usually perch on the nest in order to do this, but the lesser-white- 

 throat's habits are more akin to those of the bearded-tit. I once 

 called an old Sussex farm-labourer, who had assisted me in photo- 

 graphing a nest, to witness the curious acrobatic feat mentioned 

 above, and did not miss the opportunity of rubbing in a little 

 information as to the use of birds in general. He grunted, and 

 said " They be tarrible amongst t' peas." I tried hard to convince 

 him that so slender-billed a bird could no more consume peas than 

 he could crack a cocoanut. He gazed at me in a stolid bovine 

 manner, merely reiterating " They be tarrible amongst t' peas." One 

 must evidently begin instilling knowledge into folks when they are 

 young. 



It is always difficult to know just what becomes of young birds 

 when fully fledged. Where two broods are reared as is the case with 

 blackcaps, the first family usually keeps with one or other of the 

 parents, generally the male, till the second family requires attention. 

 If one brood only is produced, the young are tended by both 

 parents long after they are capable of fending for themselves. It is 

 after the young leave the nest that the parents' duties are most 

 arduous and their anxieties doubled. The common enemies of this 

 group are stoats, weasels, birds of prey and cats. When just fledged 

 the little birds sit about on the ground, or flit clumsily to cover. 

 Blackcaps remain in the nest nine days, 1 whitethroats and garden- 



1 British Warblers. Howard : " Warblers, Blackcaps," p. 25. 



