AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 129 



50. BLACKCAP. 



Sylvia atricapilla. 



This bird is exceedingly common in Northampton- 

 shire, or, at all events, in our neighbourhood, though 

 1 am informed that it is by no means frequent in the 

 environs of Stamford. The charming song of the 

 Blackcap, "loud and sweet," the conspicuous black 

 head of the male bird, and its lively habits, are so 

 well known that I imagine that most of my readers are 

 acquainted with it as well as, or better than myself, 

 and do not require a detailed account of its manners, 

 song, or nest. I may, however, mention that I have 

 seen the male bird on the nest almost as often as the 

 female, that the bird is common almost all over 

 Europe, and that I have now and then met with it in 

 our county as late as December, though the great 

 majority arrive early in April and leave us in Sep- 

 tember. In Cyprus it has long been the custom to 

 preserve these birds in jars of the famous sweet wine 

 of the island ; and in Malta, at the period of migra- 

 tion, almost the entire male population turns out 

 armed in pursuit of these and other unfortunate 

 feathered travellers. 



I find in Yarrell's ' British Birds,' 4th ed. vol. i. 

 p. 422, the following statement concerning this 

 species : " The female is larger than the male, a 

 thing very remarkable among birds of this family, 

 measuring 6 inches and 1 quarter." The whole 

 length of the male is given as 5 inches and 3 

 quarters. I have verified the above statement from a 

 great number of specimens examined at Algiers in 

 the autumn of 1877, where I also found a great 

 variety in size amongst the sexes inter se. 



K 



