I\ 



THE BLACKCAP WARBLER 



283 



whistling sound, drooping its wings at the same time and agitating them in accordance 

 with its notes. Sometimes the bird utters its trilling notes while ilying from one 

 tree to another. 



The Wood Warbler is elegant in shape, being light and active and possessed of much 

 command of wing, a qualification which is necessary for the procuring of its food. 

 This bird does not feed on fruits or berries, but restricts itself to insects, especially 

 when they are in the caterpillar 

 state. The leaf-rolling caterpil- 

 lars are its principal food, and of 



these insatiable devourers it de- ..^-- .-_^^^-^-™,_»--™,-^ 



stroys vast quantities before they 

 can do much harm. In obtaining 

 them it flits round the trees, and 

 is able to snap up the caterpillars 

 as they hang by the slender 

 thread to which they always 

 attach themselves when alarmed. 

 Sometimes the Wood Warbler 

 chases the insects on the wing, 

 and in this manner destroys great 

 numbers of the green oak moth 

 that have escaped from its beak 

 wliile they were in the caterpillar 

 condition. 



The nest of this species is 

 placed on the ground under the 

 shelter of thick herbage or an 

 overhanging bush, and a domed 

 structure composed principally of 

 long dried grass, leaves, fibres, 

 and moss. The entrance is by a 

 hole at the side, and the interior 

 is lined with hair and fine fibres, 

 feathers not appearing to be em- 

 ployed for this purpose. The 

 number of eggs is from four to 

 six, and their colour is greyish- 

 white, profusely sprinkled with 

 dark red and ash-coloured spots, 

 gathered most thickly into a belt 

 round the larger end. The general 

 colour of this species is soft green- 

 grey on the upper parts of the 

 body, and pure white below, the 

 latter characteristic having earned 

 for the bird the local name of 

 " linty-white." A streak of bright 

 yellow passes over the eyes, and 

 reaches as far as the chin and 

 the sides of the neck. In total length the Wood Warbler rather exceeds five inches. 



LESSER WHITETHROAT.— S!(!t>to mrruca. 

 WOOD WARBhEU.—Sylvia siMl&trix. 



With the exception of the nightingale, the Blackcap Warbler is the sweetest and 

 richest of all tlie British song-birds, and in many points the voice of the Blackcap is even 

 superior to that of tlie far-famed Pliilomel. 



The Blackcap derives its name from the tuft of dark feathers which crown the head, 

 and which in the males are coal black, but in the females are deep reddish-brown. It is 



