THE BLACKCAP WARBLER 31 



at the end of April, in May, or even in June, are 

 four, five, or six in number, usually white in ground- 

 colour, clouded with olive- or buffish-brown, and here 

 and there spotted and streaked with dark brown. A 

 rare variety is pale red, mottled with darker red and 

 sparingly spotted and streaked with purplish-brown. 

 But one brood is reared in the season. If the first 

 nest comes to grief, another and yet another will be 

 made. A peculiarity of this species is that it will con- 

 tinue to lay the full clutch of eggs in the same nest, if 

 they are as regularly removed as soon as laid. The 

 food of the Blackcap is chiefly composed of insects 

 and larvae, but berries and fruits of various kinds 

 are also eaten. The bird leaves our islands in 

 September. 



The Blackcap has the general colour of the 

 plumage greyish-brown, palest on the under parts. 

 In the male the upper part of the head is black : in 

 the female it is rusty brown. The bird is a little 

 over six inches in total length. 



