BLACKCAP 



there is a harsh cry from a distant male, and this is sufficient 

 to arouse their passions. It seems as if very little inducement 

 was necessary to prolong this excitement when once aroused. 

 The males collect from adjoining territories, often some dis- 

 tance from where their mates are sitting, and though they seem 

 to assemble more or less in the same place, yet it is difficult to 

 make certain of this, since they move about very considerably. 

 I have, however, noticed that such assemblies occur frequently 

 in the territory of a certain male, while only rarely in that 

 of others adjoining. A male, while incubating, will suddenly 

 leave his nest and dart off to join one of these assemblies, or 

 intrude upon a later pair during their courtship. In the 

 latter case, all three birds become very excited, the males 

 spread their tails, extend their wings, and flap through the 

 air, and the female raises her feathers and screams. The 

 male that is courting undoubtedly resents the presence of the 

 other, for he will attack him, and while doing so will fluff out 

 the feathers on his breast and back, erect his head feathers, 

 and spread out his tail. Whether these assemblies are 

 prompted by a love of play, jealousy, anger, excitement only, 

 or some cause of which we are not at present cognisant, 

 remains a subject for speculation. The direct stimulus is 

 often quite apparent, and this, in most cases, is the presence 

 of a female. It is during the first few hours of the morning, 

 when the females of most species leave their nests, that 

 coition takes place, and I am inclined to think that this is 

 often the cause of the excitement ; but it is clear that it is 

 not always so, as, for instance, when the males collect round 

 a member of some other species ; though even here sexual 

 passion may be indirectly the cause. The excitement 

 diminishes in intensity week by week, finally disappearing 

 when the young are reared and the males leave their breeding 

 territories. 



Sometimes when a pair are quietly feeding amongst the 

 oaks, a second male joins them, an intrusion to which the 

 other male objects, spreading out his tail ; on the arrival of 



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