BLACKCAP. 163 



a Whiteihroat. The bird sings from high trees as frequently 

 as from undergrowth, and at intervals breaks off its song to 

 fight with a rival. The song may be heard until late in July, 

 but seldom in August ; it has been heard from wintering birds. 

 Although it feeds largely on insects, sometimes on useful 

 ichneumons as well as harmful two-winged flies, it is also 

 partial to berries and fruit ; indeed its diet is more Vegetarian 

 than that of most warblers. In April, immediately on arriving, 

 I have known it visit a garden to strip the remaining ivy berries, 

 and have seen it pulling off and eating the flowers of the syca- 

 more. In July I watched one in gooseberry bushes, but it 

 contented itself with the overripe fallen berries, picking out 

 the seeds. 



The nest is said to be further from the ground than that of 

 the Garden-Warbler, but this is not always the case ; it is built 

 in similar situations in brambles, thick bushes and evergreens, 

 and is roughly but firmly woven ; the materials used are 

 grasses and sedges, the lining, finer bents and a little hair. 

 The eggs (Plate 65) are laid late in May as a rule, are four 

 or five in number, and vary considerably ; they are mottled, 

 marbled and clouded with yellowish or reddish brown on a 

 yellowish white or ruddy ground. The male helps to build, 

 incubate and feed the young. In September many leave, but 

 birds on passage have been noted throughout October, and the 

 Blackcap is one of the few warblers which from time to time 

 winters with us, usually in Cornwall or Devon. In January, 

 191 2, I received a male which had been killed in Somerset by 

 a cat, and in February, 191 3, I watched a pair feeding on ivy 

 berries in the Rock Garden at Torquay. The assertion that 

 the male has a brown head in winter was disproved by these 

 two males, though the first, being not fully adult, had a slight 

 rusty tinge, for the heads of young birds are brown. 



The upper parts of the male are bluish grey in spring ; the 

 back is tinged olive-brown, and the darker quills and tail have 



