BRITISH WARBLERS 
of the female, it becomes less pronounced. It is not 
uncommon to see a male fly high in the air from the top 
of one tree to the top of another several hundred yards 
distant, and thence to another, finally returning to his 
starting-point. | 
Since they are not very plentiful, a struggle between 
the males for some particular breeding territory is not of 
so frequent occurrence as is the case with many other species, 
but if two arrive simultaneously in the same place a quarrel 
ensues. Under such circumstances I have never seen them 
actually fighting, but their excitement is very great, and 
they scold one another very vigorously, relaxing and fluffing 
out their feathers, spreading their tails, and, after the manner 
of other members of the genus, warbling and imitating other 
species. 
When, some little time after the first male, the female 
does arrive, the male becomes intensely excited, showing 
it both in his actions and song, but she pursues her way 
in the undergrowth or in the bottom of a hedgerow, in 
search of food, regardless of his attentions. He follows her 
closely, creeping in and out of the hedge behind, at one 
moment appearing on the top, then disappearing, or in an 
excitable way flying up into some tree close at hand, singing, 
warbling, or incessantly uttering his quiet hissing note. 
If she leaves the undergrowth and travels along the top of 
the hedge, or in some such visible position, he flies towards 
her with a peculiar flight, which is more of a flutter than 
the slow flapping flight of many other species, and although 
his excitement is clearly intense throughout all these pro- 
ceedings, it does not reach its limit until he thus approaches 
her very closely. Following in her wake he throws out his 
breast feathers, spreads his tail, and erects the feathers on 
his head, and when in a more open position spreads out 
and flaps his wings, appearing to tumble about in an helpless 
condition. During this period of excitement the customary 
piece of dead grass is scarched for, picked up, and finally 
6 
