Henry Eliot Howard

“ Such powers of apparent discrimination seem very wonderful, yet we must not forget our total ignorance of all things pertaining to the sub-conscious state of animal life, and consequently of the bearing it may have on the unknown connection between different individuals, or classes of individuals, which, if known, would go far to explain such incidents, and perhaps enable us to form a truer definition of species than hitherto possible. ”

“ Although I have never found a second brood, yet I think it probable that two are sometimes reared, for this reason, that some of the males in July indulge in a second courtship. When a female is present the male will spread out his wings and tail, and walk sideways up and down a branch, the female for her part also spreading out her wings and tail, but not moving up and down the branch. ”

“ When startled she will sing a few notes of the song of the male, but will on no account drop the food she may be holding at the time. I have startled her in many ways, even going so far as to touch her with a stick, in order to make her drop the insects that I might be able to see to what species they belonged, but in no case have I been successful. The fæces, enclosed in a membranous sac, is carried away by the female each time after bringing food, and is dropped twenty or thirty yards from the nest; occasionally, but not as frequently as amongst other species, it is swallowed by her. ”

“ Their difficulty no doubt lies in their want of experience, and consequent lack of power to distinguish between what is food and what is not; thus, even when they have left their parents. I have seen them in doubt trying to swallow the ragged ends of a broken twig. ”

“ A male pursues the female with drooping wings and erected head-feathers, uttering a rather harsh call-note; sometimes when quietly following he picks up and carries a dead leaf. If another male approaches too closely he pursues him with quick, vigorous flight. The female all the time keeps up her gentle call-note, which becomes more vigorous if her suitor, while pursuing another male, is forgetful and leaves her too long alone. Sometimes the two play together, flying at one another, the male scolding ”

“ Their arrival can soon be detected by their babbling song, an energetic but unmusical strain, and where first heard there they will probably be found to breed, for they are by nature most home-loving individuals. ”

“ Thus they keep calling, sometimes with the single note, sometimes with a treble note quickly uttered in a descending scale, as they wander along in search of food, apparently not troubling about an answer to their call, but uttering it mechanically at varying intervals. Any sudden noise or disturbance, even the throwing of a stone into the rushes, is often enough to cause them to sing. ”

“ The female does most of the building, flying backwards and forwards to the Salix nigricans, carrying billfuls of the seeds, followed closely by the male, who never makes the slightest effort to help her, but, whether she be on the willow tugging at the seeds or actually building, sits close beside her, and in the same manner flies within a few feet of her on her journeys backwards and forwards. ”

“ Arriving in this country about April 25th, these birds choose many varied spots for their home; osier-beds, where the various species of sedge grow in abundance, they favour most, although at times they will choose a thick and tangled hedgerow, and again, and this very frequently, they may be found amongst the dense masses of the Arando phragmitis, but in the drier portions. The arrival of the males, and perhaps of the females also, is rather irregular ”

“ The courtship commences directly the females arrive, about ten days or so after the males; and as the females at this period persist in skulking in the bottom of the thickest rushes and undergrowth, it is most difficult to see what actually takes place; but the glimpses I have occasionally obtained tend to make me look upon the males when in love as rather sober-minded individuals ”

“ They inhabit more particularly wet osier-beds, where the different sedges, the Carex ovalis, Carex acuta and Carex riparia grow abundantly, but they seem to prefer them when rather drier, that is to say, where the willows are young and thick, and where the Juncus effusus, Spiræa ulmaria (meadow sweet) and different species of Epilobium (willow herb) grow in tangled masses. ”

“ The sides of the face and neck are rather rich olive-buff with faint dark centres to the feathers, and there is a moustache stripe, though not very conspicuous. The throat is pure whitish buff; the crop and flanks are buff, with or without a faint olive wash, the former being furnished with brownish grey spots. The abdomen is whitish, blending into a pure buff on the under tail-coverts; under surface of the tail and wings are lavender grey narrowly edged with light buff and the feather shafts are white. ”

“ In the latter part of August and the first half of September, that is to say, in the last few weeks before they leave this country, they are much quieter, rarely singing, but instead skulking in the undergrowth, and are therefore difficult to see. As they move about you can hear them occasionally calling to one another, but showing themselves very little, evidently finding plenty of food amongst the stems of the reeds and rushes. ”

“ Adults in Spring.—The sexes are alike, the male, perhaps, being a trifle brighter and rather larger, but on the other hand a bright female may surpass a dull-coloured male. The upper parts are of an umber brown tint shading into an almost unspotted rusty brown on the rump and upper tail-coverts. ”

“ MALE SEDGE WARABLER.
ATTITUDE DURING COURTSHIP.
the roots of the herbage, often hopping on to and along the ground in swampy places, where small worms and spiders are abundant, and since they generally inhabit swampy places, swamp-loving insects form a great portion of their food. It is common to see the adults hunting the willows and small alders (Alnus glutinosa) , but never the high trees. The young in July when fully grown are not so particular in this respect, often searching in the tops of large alders, especially during the swarming time of the aphides. ”

“ Immature.—The colour of the young is much like that of the adults, but richer. The crown is blackish, each feather narrowly edged with olive buff, the combined effect being, when the feathers are in perfect order, that of six fairly broad blackish stripes divided by narrow olive buff lines. There is a conspicuous light buff superciliary stripe, the lores are blackish, uppermost ear-coverts dusky, the combined effect being a dark streak through the eye; on the nape the blackish centre and olive buff edges of the feathers are of equal strength ”

“ Water or swampy ground seems to be a necessity for them, for they are rarely to be found breeding in dry places. I have occasionally come across them in small dry coppices, but never very far away from water of some description. ”

“ Whether it breeds in Montenegro is doubtful, but immense numbers pass on migration. On the east side of the Balkan Peninsula we find it common in the reed-beds of Varna and Pravadia in Bulgaria, but further inland less numerous. ”