BLACKCAP. 43 
throat, is decidedly rare. It breeds sparingly in Wirral 
and throughout the Plain, but we have never met with 
it in the Hill Country of the East. 
The situations chosen for the nest are usually similar 
to those of the Common Whitethroat, but we have 
on more than one occasion found it placed in the 
hawthorn hedge bordering a garden. 
The nest is described by most authorities as being 
rather shallow, but those we have found have been 
somewhat deep, cup-shaped structures. 
BLACKCAP, 
SYLVIA ATRICAPILLA (Linnzeus). 
Man of the Woods. 
The Blackcap is a regular summer visitor, arriving 
about the end of April, and remaining until the end 
of August or beginning of September. We have no 
evidence that it ever winters in Cheshire, although in 
1886 one was reported at Chester as early as March 
13th. It is fairly abundant in suitable situations in 
Wirral and throughout the wooded Plain, but is seldom 
seen in the Hill Country. In the district east of 
Macclesfield, Mr. N. Neave occasionally found it, and 
then only in sheltered spots. 
The exquisite song—often trilled from the topmost 
twig of a high tree—reveals the whereabouts of the 
Blackcap when the secluded nature of its haunts would 
otherwise enable it to escape detection. Unlike the 
Whitethroat, it does not frequent hedgerows and open 
1 Of. Saunders, Manual of British Birds, second edition, p. 44; and 
Seebohm, History of British Birds, vol. i. p. 412. 
2 J.0.J.P., Field, vol. Ixvii. p. 361. 1886. 
