THE PERCHING BIRDS. 143 



Has occurred only twice, once in Yorks, the other time in 

 Middlesex. 



Yearly with us from April to Sej^tember, the Blackcap 

 has often been shot in the southern counties in winter ; 

 so that some, at all events, remain through 

 the year. Excej^t in the extreme north of 

 Scotland, and to those islands w^hich it passes only on 

 its autumn wanderings, the bird breeds throughout the 

 United Kingdom. Easily distinguished by the contrast 

 of the black head with the uniform grey of the rest of the 

 plumage, this warbler has a song w^hich, though not the 

 theme of many poets, is at its best little inferior to that 

 of the nightingale. It feeds on insects, fruits, mostly 

 wild, and berries. A most interesting habit has been 

 noticed in connection with its capture of insects, which 

 it is said to effect with the aid of the intoxicating juice 

 of the hibiscus, pricking the flower with its bill and 

 returning anon to feed on the helpless insects that lie 

 around. The nest, of dried grasses lined with fine 

 bents, is placed in thick bushes 3 or 4 feet from the 

 ground. Eggs, 5, ^ inch ; stained white, with dark 

 brow^n or reddish spots and blotches at the larger end. 

 Two broods are usually reared. It is curious how densely, 

 given suitable conditions, these birds will nest, almost in 

 colonies. In May 1886 I took, in one morning, an o^gg 

 from each of five nests in a hedge not 500 yards long 

 on the banks of the Cray in Kent. T have generally 

 found the nest of this warbler in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of running water. 



The rarer, duller brown-and-white Garden Warbler is 



with us for five months only, not arriving until the second 



week in May. Though not uncommon in our 



"Warbler south-eastern counties, it is rare in most parts 



of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and Cornwall 



is almost beyond its usual range. Like the last, it feeds on 



