BIRDS OF THE WOODLANDS 8i 



able elevation in one of the taller growing shrubs or 

 in a hedge. Although this warbler is properly 

 regarded as a summer visitor to the British Islands, 

 it is not unfrequently met with in the depth of 

 winter. Many of its occurrences in Ireland are 

 recorded for this season, and Mr. Evans states it is 

 to be found in the Isle of Jura in the Hebrides, all 

 through the year, and that he believes it to be 

 resident. 



Like the Garden Warbler, the Blackcap is shy 

 and restless, except in the nesting season, when 

 each parent bird takes its turn in incubation, and it 

 then admits of the nearest approach, especially in 

 the case of the female. It frequents gardens, 

 orchards and young plantations, and the fine quality 

 of its song is universallv recognized. 



Few things strike the American naturalists more 

 strongly than the performance of our three great 

 warblers — the Nightingale, Blackcap and Garden 

 Warbler. The army of small wood warblers in 

 New' England is far in excess of ours, but, for the 

 most part, their song is faint and lisping, and bears 

 a close relation to the size of the bird — Phoebe or 

 Vireo — from which it proceeds. Here, on some 

 bright INIay morning, when the elm and the oak are 

 bursting into full leaf, the deep, low notes are heard 

 for the first time, growing louder and more jubilant 

 as the summer advances. The singer is not readilv 

 seen, for each of the three masters is content, for the 

 most part, to pour out his strains from the depths of 

 the sheltering leaves. The music falls upon the 

 ear, now soft, and filled with infinitely tender modu- 

 lations; now- loud, with a sudden burst of melody 



