THE BLACKCAP. 61 



Mr. W. Evans, that it is now comparatively plentiful in 

 that county. There has been a considerable increase in 

 its numbers about Paxton since 1870. Mr. Kelly, writing 

 in 1876, says that it was not observed in Lauderdale before 

 that year, when one was found dead in the grounds of 

 Thirlestane Castle.^ The first notice which I have of the 

 bird's actual occurrence in Berwickshire ^ is by Mr. Hardy, 

 who, writing on the 21st of May 1860, says: — " Blackcaps 

 in many places in the Pease Dean, warbling richly; one 

 came out and displayed itself in great agitation of song, its 

 head feathers raised up and erect, its throat feathers dis- 

 ordered, its back curved — a rustic, ungainly-looking bird 

 — and all the time singing earnestly, as could be seen by 

 the working of its throat." ' 



The males usually come a few days before the females, 

 and very shortly after their arrival they make the woods 

 and deans resound with their delightful song, which is 

 considered to be almost equal in compass to that of the 

 Nightingale, 



Wliose trembling notes steal out between 

 The clustered leaves, herself unseen. 



Moore. 



The Blackcap is rather restless and shy, and keeps 

 moving from branch to branch towards thicker covert on 

 being observed. Its food consists of insects and fruit of 

 various kinds, such as raspberries and currants, and I have 

 observed that it is particularly fond of the fruit of the 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol viii. p. 143. 



" It is mentioned by Selby in his " Report on the Ornithology of Berwickshire 

 and District within the limits of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club," in 1841, 

 as among the rarer species of periodical summer visitors. — Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, 

 vol. i. pp. 252-257. The district within the limits of the Club includes a large 

 part of Northumberland, where the bird was probably a rare periodical summer 

 visitor before it appeared in Berwickshire. 



3 Mr. Hardy's MS. Notes. 



