BRITISH WARBLERS 
The young are hatched about the first week in June. 
Both parents take part in the feeding, but of the two the 
female is far the more industrious, the male helping, if at 
all, very little, but keeping instead a jealous eye on any 
intruder, allowing his suspicions to be allayed only with 
the greatest difficulty. Owing to the position of the nest, 
it is often most difficult to get sufficiently concealed to allow 
the parent birds to feed their offspring and clean the nest 
perfectly naturally; and in order to obtain accurate know- 
ledge of the mysteries of their nursery, especially with 
regard to certain problems relating to the order of feeding 
the young, the actual food that is brought, the condition 
in which it is delivered to the young, and the possibility 
of different food being supplied by the male and female 
respectively, it is necessary to be within a few feet of 
the nest. For instance, if the female cannot overcome 
her suspicion of you she will not feed naturally, her 
whole aim, under such circumstances, being to get rid 
of the food. This, then, is the difficulty, and can only 
be overcome—and this by no means always—with consider- 
able patience. In this endeavour the dome-shaped nest adds 
largely to these difficulties. When the young are first 
hatched the female appears to be very excited, darting back- 
wards and forwards round the nest: the male, taking advan- 
tage of her light-heartedness, pursues her and plays with her 
after his manner in the air. The care of the young is no 
ereat labour to her at first, but it increases daily, until it 
becomes a matter of some difficulty for her to keep them fully 
supplied with food. 
Each day the brooding of the offspring becomes of less, 
and the food supply of more consequence, yet the male never 
seems to think that his services are really required, feeding 
the young only occasionally as it suits him. I have, however, 
seen him bringing food to the female when brooding early in 
the morning, and when doing so he would sing quietly right up 
to the nest itself. On the other hand, she commences to feed 
20 
