BLACKCAP WARBLER. 113 



Family TURDID^E. Genus SYLVIA. 



Sub-family SYLVIINAL. 



BLACKCAP WARBLER. 



SYLVIA ATRICAPILLA (Linnceus). 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, May and June. 



BRITISH BREEDING AREA: The Blackcap is gener- 

 ally, although somewhat locally, distributed throughout 

 England and Wales. In Scotland it becomes rarer and 

 even more local, especially so north of the valley of the 

 Forth, although it has been met with breeding as high 

 as Ross-shire. In Ireland it is even more local and spar- 

 ingly dispersed, but certainly breeds in counties Dublin, 

 Wicklow, Tipperary, and Mayo. Further observation 

 may show that it is much more generally distributed. 



BREEDING HABITS : The Blackcap arrives in the 

 British Islands about the middle of April. Its principal 

 breeding-haunts are plantations, spinneys, shrubberies, 

 the banks of streams clothed with dense underwood, 

 hedgerows, orchards, and gardens. The Blackcap may 

 be seen in pairs a week or so after its arrival, and nest- 

 building commences soon after that event. The nest is 

 variously placed among briars and brambles, in holly 

 trees, or in thickets growing over the stream, and in 

 dense hedges, sometimes only a foot or so from the 

 ground, at others as much as ten or twelve feet. Both 

 birds assist in its construction. It is a rather slight, 

 flimsy, and loosely-woven structure, composed principally 

 of dry grass-stalks, perhaps *a scrap or two of moss, a 

 few leaf-stalks and roots, and sparingly lined with horse- 

 hair. Many nests have cobwebs and cocoons amongst 

 them. Blackcaps arc close sitters, often staying on 

 the eggs until the bush is shaken. The sitting bird 



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