BLACKCAP. 399 
and the underparts, cheeks, and nape are buffish brown. The male in first 
plumage resembles the female, and is said to attain the black head in the 
first autumn by a change in the colour of the feathers and not by a 
moult. It is also alleged that this bird has no spring moult ; but these 
statements require verification. The following facts tend to confirm the 
natural conclusion that this species does not differ in these respects from 
its congeners :—A male, which I shot in Heligoland on the 2nd of October, 
evidently a bird of the year, has a black head, but each feather is broadly 
tipped and margined with reddish brown; these feathers would probably 
be moulted early in the following year into the black feathers of the 
adult. The exact date of the spring moult appears to be very uncertain ; 
but, as Naumann states, no doubt the spring plumage ‘is attained by a 
change of feather. I have an example, obtained in Asia Minor on the 
18th of December, which has begun to moult its tail-feathers ; and I have 
another, obtained in Heligoland in May, in which one of the outside tail- 
feathers has not attained its full length, whilst examples obtained in the 
Florence market on the Ist of March have all the appearance of birds which 
have only just completed their moult. If this bird moults very early in 
the year, as the Garden- Warbler certainly does, this fact may explain the 
arrival of many birds in our islands in spring im somewhat abraded 
plumage; but some examples have the edges of the quill- and tail- 
feathers so extremely perfect that it is impossible not to believe that they 
have not only had a spring moult, but probably, from some cause or 
other, they moulted somewhat later than usual, and were fortunate 
' enough to have fine weather during their migration. 
