BRITISH WARBLERS 
placing a young one upon the hand, which will generally 
be sufficient to cause it to utter its alarm note. The female 
will then settle upon a branch near, and falling from thence 
in a helpless manner on to the ground will proceed to run 
about, with her wings and tail outspread to the fullest ex- 
tent, and the feathers all over her body relaxed; the call 
note at the same time being rapidly and continuously uttered. 
Her whole demeanour is one of abject misery, although the 
attitude assumed is one of great beauty, and is similar in 
almost every respect to the actions of the male during the 
period of sexual activity. ‘The performance will be repeated 
so long as the offspring continues to attract attention. 
In this manner many species apparently simulate the 
actions of a wounded or injured bird in order to entice an 
intruder away from their young or their eggs. I have per- 
sonally witnessed many such cases in addition to this one 
described, and have not hesitated in the past to attribute them 
to the same cause. But investigations, pursued with the 
object of observing the effects of excitement when produced 
by various causes upon the same species, have led me to 
examine the whole evidence afresh, with the result that I am 
now inclined to doubt this interpretation. 
Both sexes of the Blackcap, when the young are inter- 
fered with, appear to reach the utmost limit of excitement, 
fluttering and running about the ground. ‘The Partridge 
(Perdix cinerea), when her offspring are suddenly approached, 
becomes frantic with excitement. Spreading out her tail, she 
raises the feathers on her back, and in a crouching attitude 
runs rapidly about with drooping wings, uttering her note 
piteously. If the Reed Bunting Wmberiza scheniclus) is 
startled while on her nest, she acts in a similar manner, 
running about amongst the thick tangled undergrowth with 
her tail outspread and all her feathers relaxed. The Wild 
Duck (Anas boscas), when anxious about her young, some- 
times flaps along the water or the ground, and even hobbles 
in an apparently helpless condition. But she does not always do 
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