52 Oxford: Spring and Early Summer. 



world, that even a scientific terminology and 

 description upon description have not been able 

 to save the birds from getting mixed up together, 

 or getting confounded with their own young, or 

 with the young of other birds. 



If the Blackcap were not a Sylvia, he could 

 not well be scientifically named after his black 

 head, for other birds, such as Titmice, have also 

 black heads, and I have frequently heard the 

 Cole Tit described as the Blackcap. In any case 

 he should perhaps have been named after his 

 wonderful faculty of song, in which he far excels 

 all the other birds of our three groups. Most 

 people know the Blackcap's song who have ever 

 lived in the country, for you can hardly enter a 

 wood in the summer without being struck by it ; 

 and all I need do here is to distinguish it as well 

 as I can from that of the Garden-warbler, which 

 may easily be mistaken for it by an unpractised 

 ear, when the birds are keeping out of sight in 

 the foliage, as they often most provokingly will 

 do. Both are essentially warblers ; that is, they 

 sing a strain of music, continuous and legato, 

 instead of a song that is broken up into separate 



