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The plaintive notes of the Willow-Warbler and of the Chiffchaff are to our ears very closely akin, so, too, are those of the Marsh-Warbler and of the Reed-Warbler, and there is a great resemblance between the hissing sound produced by the two Whitethroats. In Co.
The vixen further explained that, except when other food was scarce, creatures occupied, or about to be occupied, with maternal cares even the lark in the furrow and the willow-warbler in the hole by the brook were far less palatable than at other times.
Let us take some common species, the Willow-Warbler being our first example; and, having found three adjoining territories occupied by unpaired males, let us study the conflicts at each stage in the sexual life of the three individuals, observing them before females have arrived upon the scene, again when one or two of the three males have secured mates, and yet again when all three have paired.
What could be more unlike than the songs of the Willow-Warbler and of the Chiffchaff, of the Marsh-Warbler and the Reed-Warbler, or of the Yellow Bunting and the Cirl Bunting?
Recently I had an opportunity of observing the intrusion of a male Willow-Warbler upon ground already occupied. By persistent effort it succeeded in appropriating one half of the territory of its rival. The intruder occupied some trees on the outskirts of the territory it was invading, and used them as a base from which it made repeated efforts to enter the ground of its rival.
But these swamps cover a comparatively small acreage in the breeding range of the bird, and if each pair were to attempt to establish dominion over an area equal, let us say, to that of the Willow-Warbler, the species would have but a poor chance in the struggle for existence.
Take whatever species we will Whitethroat, Whinchat, Willow-Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, it matters not which, for there is no essential difference in the general course of procedure this condition will be found to prevail.
In my records for the past twelve years, there are frequent references to these initial male contests in the life of the Willow-Warbler and of the Chiffchaff; and in the district which I have in mind, these two species arrive early in the season, the males preceding the females by a week or even as much as a fortnight.
Its behaviour, however, requires further consideration, especially as regards its relations with its nearest of kin the Willow-Warbler; for here we have a mutual intolerance which is somewhat remarkable, and evidence of it can be found wherever the birds occupy the same ground.
On one occasion the Willow-Warbler may be the aggressor, on another the Chiffchaff, and at times it is difficult to say which of the two is responsible for the quarrel. In size and in strength they are equal, and the "will to fight" is as strong in the one as in the other, so that it is seldom, if ever, possible to point to this one as the victor and that one as the vanquished.