BRITISH WARBLERS 
sort of way, a little being added to it each morning and 
nothing during the day; at other times it is built hurriedly, 
the female flying backwards and forwards with grasses and 
leaves, often two or three of the latter at a time, fixing them 
with wonderful rapidity. The cause of this great haste in 
the latter case is evidently the advanced development of the 
ovaries, by which she is no doubt guided. She alone, or nearly 
so, does all the building, the male taking little or no notice of 
her, sometimes being rather more of an annoyance than a 
help, flying after her in a playful manner while she is at work 
searching for materials. These materials she collects close 
round the position which has been chosen for the nest, and 
she often searches for them repeatedly in the same spot. 
Sometimes when busy building she is remarkably fearless and 
seems little concerned at one’s presence, only calling plaintively 
now and again as she flutters round, carrying, with apparent 
difficulty, leaves as large as herself. 
The nest is generally situated from three inches to three 
feet from the ground. I use the word “ generally ” because, 
though I have never actually seen one on the ground, I 
have found them so near as to only just allow sufficient 
room for my fingers underneath. Therefore I should not be 
surprised to find one built there, as the Willow Warbler’s 
is. It is sometimes placed in the middle of thick bramble 
bushes, or on the side of a bank, supported by dead grass and 
small entwining branches, or in clumps of dead grass on the 
level, or, again, in masses of nettles and herbage intermingled. 
There does not, however, seem to be any preference for any 
particular situation, nor even for any particular herbage, but 
the positions are apparently chosen indiscriminately, so long as 
they are well concealed. 
The nest is an exceedingly pretty one, dome-shaped, with 
the entrance at one side rather near the top; the outside is 
composed of dead leaves, chiefly mixed with some of the 
coarser dead grasses; next to this, dead grass forms the 
principal material mixed with fine roots; next to this, again. 
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