MAESH WARBLER 



approximately the time the young Eeed Warblers remain in 

 the nest, and it is difficult to understand why, in the case of 

 this species, the period should be increased in certain instances 

 by three days. Climate may be connected with this variation, 

 for development would probably be more rapid when the 

 temperature was high and food consequently abundant. But 

 it is well to remark that in one instance which came under 

 my notice the young occupied the nest for close upon fourteen 

 days, and during that period the conditions were exceptionally 

 favourable for rapid development, insect life being abundant 

 and the temperature abnormally high. In order to get at the 

 truth of this variation a large number of separate pairs require 

 to be observed 



Both sexes share in the task of tending the offspring, 

 but one of them, as already observed, is more timid than the 

 other, and it is therefore not altogether easy to determine just 

 how the labour is divided ; whether, that is to say, the male 

 not only brings food and cleans the nest, but also takes his 

 part in brooding the young. The task of brooding is performed 

 largely, if not wholly, by the parent that is the less shy ; this 

 can clearly be seen. And since it is probable, from our know- 

 ledge of other species, that the female would naturally be 

 more anxious to carry out this task, it is probably she who, as 

 previously hinted at, is the less timid throughout. Yet even 

 she is decidedly more nervous than the female Beed Warbler, 

 for arriving at the nest with food she will remain for a long 

 time close to, or actually upon the side of it, unable to make 

 the final effort to deliver the food she is carrying. One or 

 two of the young, occasionally three, are fed by one parent 

 at a time. Their usual custom, how T ever, is to feed two and 

 remove the fceces from one. In the earlier stages of their 

 growth, the young are not fed so frequently, brooding being 

 then more important. But these conditions gradually 

 become reversed, until the time of both parents is largely 

 occupied in securing the necessary food. The interval between 



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