70 The Blackcap. 



woods, where the removal of the trees has permitted the wild blackberr}-, brion}', 

 convolvulus and man}- other things to sprawl over one another in profusion, 

 rendering progression ruinous to clothing, I have often come across the nest of 

 this bird : such clearings may either be on the outskirts or some distance within 

 a wood. In the former case they are only separated from the main road by 

 a hedge, or terminate in a steep bank running downwards to the thorough- 

 fare ; in the latter case, they adjoin a rough cart road cut through the 

 wood. Little accidental clearings, entered b}- "blind"* keeper's paths, are also 

 verj- favourite sites for the nest of this bird. The structure is ver}' strongly 

 built (though sometimes the walls are not ver}- thick) and it is firml}- attached 

 to the stems of hawthorn, bramble, or other low-growing vegetation in which it 

 is located. In form it is a neatly rounded cup, with walls externally composed 

 of fine dry tough grass, more rarely with an admixture of straw, internally of 

 fine grass, root-fibre and horsehair ; the outside is sometimes interwoven with a 

 little moss and always strengthened and bound to the supporting twigs by 

 woollen thread or silk from the cocoons of some spider or caterpillar : in some 

 nests, however, this thread is ver}- scanty and can only be detected by carefully 

 examining them with a lens, whereas in others it gives the outer walls a fluffy 

 appearance to the naked e3-e. 



The eggs vary in number from four to five , in size they are tolerably 

 uniform, those of young birds being slightly- smaller than those deposited by 

 older individuals : in colouring they exhibit considerable variability ; so much so 

 that the t3'ro, unacquainted with the bird itself, its habits, or its nest, might 

 take specimens which, b}' comparison with imperfect illustrations, he would 

 perchance identify as those of the Garden Warbler, Greater Whitethroat, Spotted 

 Flycatcher and Titlark : even the experienced birds'-nester unless aware of the 

 different character of the structures formed by the two species might hesitate in 

 deciding between some eggs of the Blackcap and those of the Garden Warbler. 

 The ground- tint of the eggs is either chalk}' white, greenish white, pale buff, 

 brownish buff, or flesh pink ; the surface is more or less densel}* spotted, 

 blotched and streaked with soft greyish olive, earth-brown, smoky brown, or (in 

 the pink eggs) dull mahogau}' red, giving the egg the appearance of having been 

 smeared with blood ; above these again are sprinkled little spots and thread-like 

 lines of black, or black-brown, often placed in the centre of a patch of the paler 

 colouring which the}' serve to intensify. 



The flesh-coloured variety, which somewhat vaguely resembles the egg of the 

 Spotted Flycatcher, is rare ; the only two nests purely of this type which I ever 



* That is to say, long disused aud overgrown with moss aud weeds. 



