WHITETHROAT 
at daybreak. Arriving at my hiding-place, I noticed that 
something unusual had happened to the nest, and upon 
examination found that it was very much tilted on one side. 
In removing the vegetation the previous evening I had care- 
lessly cut away one of the supports, with the result that the 
weight of the parent bird brooding had brought about a 
tragedy. I did not then notice that the young were in a state 
of collapse, so placing some small leaves in the nest as an 
experiment, I returned to my hiding-place to await the result. 
As a rule the parents exhibit great anxiety when the nest is 
in any way interfered with, or even approached, but what 
impressed me in the present instance was a complete absence 
of any such excitement. The female arrived with food and 
gave it to a young one; she then picked up and dropped some 
of the leaves, but finally left them alone. After a short time 
the male arrived, fed one young one and carried away a leaf 
alter making some attempt to swallow it. Then followed a 
long pause, but at last the male returned with food, and 
settling upon the side of the nest attempted for some con- 
siderable time to make the young respond, but without effect. 
Closer examination then revealed the fact that the young 
were quite cold and in a state of collapse; and all, in fact, 
with one exception succumbed while I was still there 
watching them. The parents now disappeared altogether, 
but next morning the female was again brooding, and the 
one young bird had completely recovered, although the dead 
bodies had not been removed. Returning to the nest a few 
days afterwards, I found that the birds had deserted and left 
the solitary offspring to its fate. 
Throughout this episode the complete absence of excite- 
ment on the part of the parents was remarkable; it seemed as 
if their anxiety was solely proportionate to the responsiveness 
of their offspring. or if such an emotion as affection had 
been present, in no matter how rudimentary a phase of 
development, it would have revealed itself by an increase, 
rather than by a decrease, of anxiety with the gradual collapse 
a1 
