130 BLACK-CAP. 



any of our other warblers, the last excepted, and 

 when in full song, it is a delightful addition to 

 our summer songsters. As with all the others, it 

 is the voice of the male, previous to pairing, or 

 holding converse with the female during the time 

 of incubation, in which he also partially assists. 

 When this is completed, the song becomes 

 broken, the melody gradually ceases, and we 

 hear only the usual call notes. Either are easily 

 interrupted ; and a slight noise, or the intrusion 

 of a stranger, will induce silence, and the bird 

 will remove itself gradually and quietly to the 

 closer parts of the thicket, or having gained the 

 edge of a more limited shrubbery, it will silently 

 flit to some more extensive and secure retreat. 

 The nest, where we have seen it, has never been 

 placed far from the ground, generally in some 

 bush, and is composed of dried fibres of roots, or 

 slender twigs, lined with the finer grasses and a 

 few hairs. Mr Selby states, that he has some- 

 times found it among brambles and nettles, formed 

 with the dry stalks of galium aparine. The Black- 

 Cap is a more abundant species every where 

 than the Nightingale, and is more equally distri- 

 buted in England. In Scotland, it extends far 

 north, but is somewhat local, and in our own 

 vicinity has only appeared within these few years, 

 which may be perhaps owing to the gradual 

 increase of more extensive shrubbery and planta- 

 tions giving it suitable food and retirement. In 

 Ireland it appears more rare, and has only been 

 recorded once by Mr Thompson. On the Con- 



