68 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



feed his partner on the nest, and then sit and sing 

 to her. They are very jealous of any approach to, 

 or interference with, their nest, and will desert it on 

 the slightest provocation. 



In discovering their insect -prey they exhibit 

 much adroitness and activity, searching every 

 branch and crevice with great minuteness and 

 rapidity, and threading the interstices of the thickest 

 underwood with the greatest ease and celerity. 



However much observers may be deceived by 

 song, there is no mistaking either sex of the Blackcap 

 as soon as the bird comes in view. The black crown 

 of the male and the brown cap of the female suffice 

 to distinguish the species amongst every other of 

 our summer migratory birds. There is something 

 very peculiar, too, about the half -hopping, half- 

 creeping motions of these warblers, which dis- 

 tinguishes them at once from other small birds 

 frequenting the same haunts. 



The males invariably arrive some days before 

 the females ; but both sexes seem to leave this 

 country much about the same time that is, early in 

 September. 



Many instances, however, are on record of 



