cond ch Dail 
394 BRITISH BIRDS. 
SYLVIA ATRICAPILLA. 
BLACKCAP. 
(PLate 10.) 
Ficedula curruca atricapilla, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 380 (1760). 
Motacilla atricapilla, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 332 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum 
—(Latham), (Bechstein), (Temminck), (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Loche), 
( Newton), (Gould), Se. 
Sylvia atricapilla (Briss.), Scop. Ann, I. Hist. Nat. p. 156 (1769). 
Curruca atricapilla (Briss.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 155 (1816). 
Monachus atricapilla (Briss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 33 (1829). 
‘Curruca heinekeni, Jard. Edinb. Journ. Nat. § Geogr. Sc. i. p. 243 (1850). 
Curruca nigricapilla, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 417 (1831, nee Cab.). 
Curruca pileata, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 418 (1831). 
Ficedula atricapilla (Briss.), Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833). 
Curruea rubricapilla, Landbeck, Vig. Wiirtemb. p. 44 (1834). 
Philomela atricapilla (Briss.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 240 (1837). 
Epilais atricapilla (Briss.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 36 (1850), 
Sylvia naumanni, Von Miiller, Naum. 1851, pt. 4, p. 26. 
Sylvia (Curruea) ruficapilla, Nawm. Vog. Deutschl, xiii. p. 411 (1853). 
Sylvia heinekeni (Jard.), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 213. no. 3018 (1869). 
Sylvia ruficapilla (Naum.), Gray, Hand-l, B. i. p. 213. no. 30620 (1869). 
The Blackcap Warbler, or, as it is generally called, the Blackcap, is one 
of the best-known of all the Warblers that visit us in sprmg and remain 
on our islands during the summer to rear their young. It is also, though 
by no means the earliest, a comparatively early migrant, and may be 
noticed in its accustomed haunts by the middle of April. It is even very 
probable that a few Blackcaps remain in their old haunts through the 
winter ; for many examples have been observed at that season. A female 
bird of this species was shot in the winter of 188] near Sheffield, and is 
now preserved in the Museum there ; and other instances have come under 
Dixon’s notice. Mr. Rodd also states that the bird is sometimes found in 
winter near Penzance. The Blackcap is a regular spring migrant to most 
of the wooded parts of England and Wales; and it would appear to be 
increasing in numbers in some counties, as, for instance, in Cornwall. 
Even in England the bird is to a certain extent a local one. Mr. Cordeaux 
writes that the Blackcap passes regularly through N.E. Lincolnshire in the 
spring and autumn on migration, but that its nest is rarely found. In the 
Channel Islands the bird, according to Professor Ansted, is confined to 
Guerusey ; and Cecil Smith states that it is generally known in that island 
as the “Guernsey Nightingale,” where it is a regular though not common | 
summer visitant. In Scotland the Blackeap becomes less common and ; | 
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