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Wales it is not common in Pembroke and rare also in the greater part 

 of Carnarvon and Anglesey. In Scotland it is chiefly confined to the 

 areas of Solway, Tweed, Clyde, Forth and Tay, but is not so common as 

 the Garden Warbler. It has also bred once in Dee, occasionally in 

 Moray, and also in W. Ross, as well as on Jura, while it is reported 

 as having bred in the Orkneys and once tried to do so in the Shetlands. 

 In Ireland it is widely, but very sparingly distributed, and is commonest 

 in Wicklow, but has bred also in Dublin, Kildare, Cavan, Fermanagh, 

 Sligo, Galway, Mayo, Tipperary, and probably several other counties. 



In Scandinavia it is only sparingly distributed to about lat. 66" in 

 Norway and middle Sweden, and on the Dovre and Fille fjeld ranges 

 as high as 3800 ft. It is not scarce in Finland, but has not been found 

 further N. than between Uleaborg and Tornea, and reaches to 62" on the 

 Dwina, the Wiatka government, and about 60" in the Urals. [East of 

 the Urals it becomes rare, but has been recorded from Omsk]. South 

 of these limits the Blackcap is generally distributed in suitable localities 

 throughout the Continent to the Mediterranean, where it is resident; breed- 

 ing in the Alps up to 5500 ft., in the Caucasus to 6600 ft., while in the 

 E. Pyrenees it has been found nesting up to 3200 ft. It also breeds in 

 most of the Mediterranean islands, the Balearic Isles, Corsica, Sardinia, 

 Sicily and Cyprus. [Also nests in the Cape Verde Isles, the Azores and 

 N, W. Africa, but only N. of the Atlas range, and is replaced by 8. atri- 

 capilla lieineken Jard., in Madeira and the Canaries: while its range ex- 

 tends to Asia Minor, Palestine, Transcaucasia, and in small numbers to 

 W. Persia.] 



Although on the average the nest is placed rather higher than that ^^^*- 

 of the Garden Warbler, this is by no means always the case, and Rey 

 found near Leipzig that out of some 200 nests examined nearly all Avere 

 lower. Nests 10 to 12 ft. high have occasionally been found in England 

 and in Andalucia I have taken eggs quite 25 ft. from the ground. But 

 the usual site is among undergrowth, brambles, briars, honeysuckle, etc- 

 in woods, young plantations or country lanes : sometimes in bushes, espec- 

 ially the snoAvberry, or hollies', alders, and rhododendrons. It is also 

 said occasionally to be placed among long matted grass and nettles close 

 to a tree. The nest is slightly built, neater than the Garden Warbler's 

 and rather lighter, composed of stalks and bents, lined with finer grasses, 

 roots and often (but not always) horsehair. Other materials sometimes 

 used are honeysuckle bark, moss, wool, cobwebs and cocoons. Diameter 

 of cup about 2 in., depth about li — 11. 



Usually 4 or 5, but in the Mediterranean district, sometimes only 3, ^s^'- 

 and clutches of 6 occur now and then, especially in N. Europe. They 

 vary considerably, but the ground colour is generally some shade of 



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