THE WILLOW-WRENS OF A LOTHIAN WOOD. 411 



arrival of the females ; secondly, the period between the latter's 

 arrival and the commencement of incubation ; thirdly, the in- 

 terval during incubation ; and, lastly, the extent of time between 

 the hatching of the young and their becoming independent of 

 their parents. 



During the first period — that previous to the arrival of the 

 females, which may extend from a fortnight to nearly a month, 

 as in 1910 — the life of the males is a systematic and regular one. 

 Commencing their song in the morning a little before sunrise 

 (one of the last birds to do so, being frequently an hour later 

 than such early birds as Sky-Lark or Song-Thrush), they sing 

 most persistently and regularly for the first hour or two, feeding 

 little, and spending the greater part of the time in the " song- 

 centre." They are decidedly more sedentary than later in the 

 day, frequently remaining motionless on a twig for several seconds 

 together, only their heads moving restlessly. The songs are 

 loud, and uttered with the utmost regularity, with pauses between 

 of about ten seconds in duration. As the day advances they 

 begin to feed with greater freedom, and extend their excursions, 

 but still exhibit distinct preference for one particular part of 

 their territory. Fights with neighbouring birds are frequent, 

 though seldom very earnest, usually consisting merely of an 

 aerial twirl or two, accompanied by a little menacing bill-snap- 

 ping ; during these encounters snatches of the song may be 

 uttered in a low tone. 



On the arrival of the females the commencement of the 

 second stage in the male's year is evidenced by a marked change 

 in behaviour. In place of the comparatively sedentary habit, 

 and loud, regularly uttered song distinctive of the previous 

 period in the early hours of the day, an extreme restlessness 

 becomes apparent, and the song is now low in tone and very 

 irregular in utterance, whole minutes together of silence some- 

 times elapsing. For the time being the song-centre is almost 

 entirely deserted, and incessant wandering over a wide area 

 becomes characteristic, this wandering frequently taking the 

 male beyond what has hitherto been the confines of his beat. 

 It is at this time, too, that a low " cheep, cheep " begins to be 

 uttered between the songs, and this feature becomes more 

 prominent as the days elapse. He follows the female at varying 



