74 THE WARBLERS 



much of the courting, which appears to commence at once or very 

 soon after. 



The love-displays are not elaborate. One may occasionally see 

 a male of either sedge- or reed-warbler with his crest erect, feathers 

 puffed out, and his tail drooping low when he rests on a stem, or 

 spread fanwise as he drops down through the herbage in pursuit of 

 the female. Both male and female frequently call to each other, the 

 call-notes being similar, except, perhaps, for a slightly harsher tone in 

 that of the male. 



Other males venturing near, either from curiosity or deeper 

 design, are vigorously attacked and driven away by the male in 

 possession. 



The sedge-warbler makes clearer his excitement by being extra 

 fussy and combative, the reed-warbler by showing more than his 

 usual graceful agility, running sideways up or down a slanting reed, 

 swinging neatly into different acrobatic attitudes while clinging 

 with his feet, or flitting stealthily from reed to reed just above the 

 water. It is said that the female sedge-warbler is very exacting, 

 querulously increasing her call if the male does not follow closely, and 

 also that the male often picks up a dead leaf and carries it during 

 periods of his folio w-my-leader courtship. 1 This latter habit is shared 

 by birds of other families, and I have always regarded it as an instinc- 

 tive association of the gathering of nest material with sexual activity. 

 However this may be, the sedge-warbler does not fulfil the promise of 

 this apparently zealous architectural activity, for although he fussily 

 accompanies his wife on her excursions to and from the nest with 

 building material, he does little or nothing towards helping her. 



The date of the commencement of nest-building varies with our 

 three species. The sedge-warbler starts early in May, and has its 

 nest completed and a full clutch of eggs by the 18th or 20th ; the reed- 

 warbler must, perforce, wait for the growth of the reeds, which, as a 

 rule, are not high enough for nest-building until the end of the month 



1 Howard, British Warblers, Part I. p. 8. 



