The Blackcap. 71 



obtained, were probably the produce of the same pair of birds in succeeding 

 years; the two nests being situated near the top of the same rough hedge outside 

 a small wood at Tunstall, in Kent ; the first I took on the 24th May, 1877, the 

 second on the 29th Ma}', 1878 : those of the later clutch are slightly larger and 

 less pyriform than those of the previous year. Another variety, almost equally 

 rare, has the ground-tint brownish buff, so densely mottled and blotched with 

 brownish russet that, but for its minute black markings, it might almost be 

 mistaken for some eggs of the Tree-Pipit. 



Both sexes incubate, but the male bird is more frequently seen on the nest 

 than the female ; it is therefore probable that, as in the case of Doves, the hen 

 sleeps on the nest and gives up her place to the cock, for day-duty, after he has 

 finished his breakfast, onl}- returning from time to time to enable him to feed. 



The nest of the Blackcap is not onl}' built about a fortnight earlier than 

 that of the Garden Warbler ; but, even when not tenanted, may be recognized as 

 distinct from it, by its smaller, neater, and far more compact character ; the eggs 

 also are frequently slightly smaller, and, even when somewhat like those of 

 C. hortensis, differ in the greater prominence of the small black markings on 

 their surface. 



The food of this species consists of insects and their larvae, spiders, centi- 

 pedes, small fruits and berries, more especially elder- and service-berries, though 

 those of the ivy are also eaten by it ; the young are, however, principally fed 

 upon small caterpillars. Although, on the Continent, it is said to feed upon ripe 

 figs, my experience of it in confinement is, that it will not touch dry figs when 

 cut open and placed with the soft food, but red or white currants it devours 

 with avidity. 



Next to the Nightingale, the Blackcap is certainly our finest songster, and 

 its powers of mimicr}^ as well as its ventriloquial gifts are superior to those of 

 that most charming of all feathered vocalists ; its song is at one time full, rich 

 and clear as that of a Blackbird, then soft and mellow, again brilliant and 

 plaintive as a Robin's notes, or rapid and almost shrill as those of a Wren ; it 

 can copy deceptively the notes of many birds, even some portions of the Nightin- 

 gale's song, but it is almost too loud in its utterances to produce the latter in 

 its purity. Among foreign songsters the only bird which reminds one somewhat 

 of our Blackcap is the so-called " Pekin Nightingale" (Liothrix /ufcus), a bird 

 evidently far more nearly related to our Hedge Accentor. 



The song of the Blackcap may be heard from the highest branches of a lofty 

 tree, from a low shrub, or even from the nest as it sits ; but after the young are 

 hatched it ceases, the duty of finding food for its babes occup3'ing the bird's 



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