WOOD WARBLER 



some Wood Warblers in this connection. The timber was 

 felled and the undergrowth cleared in a wood of some hundred 

 acres in extent, which for many years previously had been left 

 untouched. In the following season, amongst other warblers 

 which now found therein a congenial home, some Wood 

 Warblers appeared, and each in due time secured a female, 

 and I believe reared their young successfully. The next year 

 two males appeared on May 3rd, and on the morning of that 

 date were decidedly hostile to one another, but on May 4th and 

 5th there was no sign of these two males, nor were there any 

 fresh arrivals. On May 6th two males again appeared and were 

 unusually restless in their behaviour, wandering from place to 

 place, and when in the same neighbourhood attacking one 

 another. On May 7th one bird only was singing, and again on 

 May 8th, but on this latter date the second male was again in 

 evidence pursuing individuals of other species in his immediate 

 vicinity. After this date these two males vanished, and there 

 was no further sign of the species in the wood that year, nor 

 did any individuals remain td breed in the following season. 

 The behaviour of these two males differed in one important 

 particular from the normal behaviour of the species : they were 

 restless ; instead of roaming about within the precincts of a 

 territory, they extended their wanderings, first in one direction, 

 then in another, and even went so far as to seek a resting- 

 place in the opposite end of this large piece of woodland. 

 Something was evidently amiss ; a check had somehow been 

 imposed upon the normal routine of instinctive activity, and 

 it is my belief that the birds deserted the wood owing to its 

 having become unsuitable so far as reproduction was con- 

 cerned. The previous season they were there, content to 

 remain in their territories and await the advent of the 

 females, but a change had since taken place in the character 

 of the wood, the open leaf-covered spaces, which could 

 afford the necessary shelter for the nest, were gradually 

 being swallowed up in a jungle of undergrowth, and the 

 birds could not do otherwise than retire if they were to 



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