497 



BLACK-CAP. 



BLACK-COCK. 



403 



refuse. After they have cleared the elder-berries in autumn they 

 immediately leave us." 



Nor is Sweet singular in hia eulogy. All agree in praising its 

 melody. In Norfolk and in other places in Great Britain it is called 







Block-Cap (Currvca atricapilla), male. 



the Mock Nightingale, and indeed, like the nightingale, it continues 

 its song far into the night. Bcchstein, who has paid so much attention 

 to the song of birds, says that it rivals the nightingale, and that many 

 persons even give it the preference. " If," adds that author, " it has 

 less volume, strength, and expression, it is more pure, easy, and flute- 

 like in its tones, and its song is perhaps more varied, smooth, and 

 delicate." 



This fruit-eating warbler is one of the Ficedala: so much prized 

 under the name of Beccafico, though, as Bechstein well observes, every 

 taste but that of the palate must be destroyed if this charming bird 

 in caught for the table. [BECCAFICO.] Its fondness for ivy-berries 

 seems to have been noticed in Italy, where it is permanent, and thence 

 probably is derived one of its Italian names, Caponera d'Edera. The 

 difference of plumage in the males and females, and in the young 

 birds, which resemble the females, may possibly throw some light on 

 the opinion which Willughby thus mentions : " The ancients report," 

 writes Willughby, " that the black-caps (Atricapillce) in the beginning 

 of autumn are changed into Ficedulac and Beccaficos by the mutation 

 of their voice and colour ; from whom, till I be assured by experience, 

 I must crave leave to dissent." 



There can be little doubt that Willughby had in his mind that 

 passage in the 49th chapter of the 9th book of Aristotle where the 

 latter, speaking of the changes of birds, states that the Beccaficos 

 (SuicaAfSej) and the Black-Caps (M(\ayi<ipv<poi) are changed into each 

 other. Indeed Willughby thus heads his chapter on the Black-Cap : 

 " The Black -Cap : Atricapilla. ru Ficedula, Aldrov. ; called by the 

 Greeks 2uxoAh et McAcrymipu^oi ; by the Italians Capo Negro." The 

 passage in Aristotle may be thus freely translated : 



" And in like manner beccaficos and black-caps, for these too are 

 changed into each other. The bird is a beccafico at the commence- 

 ment of autumn and a black-cap at the decline of that season, and the 

 only difference is in their plumage and their voice. That they are 

 the same birds may be seen by observing them before the change is 

 complete, and when they are neither one nor the other." 



Pliny too appears to have had this passage in his view, though he 

 does not acknowledge it, when he wrote (lib. x. cap. 29) : " Alia 

 ratio ficedulis. Nam formam simul coloremque mutant. Hoc nomen 

 non nisi autumno habent, postea melancoryphi vocantur." 



Belon (ed. 1555, folio) makes the Bulfinch the 2wcaAls and Mf\ay- 

 ittpvQot of the Greeks, and Beccafighi of the Italians, naming it also 

 Atricapi/la ; but in a subsequent edition, ' enrichy de Quatrains' 

 (small 4to. 1557), the Greek, Latin, and Italian names, identifying it 

 as a Ficedula, as well as the name AtricnjMn, arc omitted; and the 

 bird appears with the provincial synonyms of the Bulfinch. In other 

 instances, in that of the very next bird for example, the Greek and 

 Latin names given in the folio edition are retainr.l. 



l"|,fin the whole, there is reason for coming to the conclusion that 

 our Black-Cap is the bird alluded to by Aristotle. Ray seems to have 

 been of this opinion, for he thus records it in his ' Synopsis' : " Atri- 

 capilla tire Ficedula, Aldrov. ; ZvKoAlt et MjAaymipi^oi, Grtccis ; the 

 Black-Cap." 



It occurs frequently in the greater portion of Europe, through the 

 northern ami eastern parts of which it is widely diffused. Temminck 

 says that it is rare beyond the Apennines and Pyrenees. C. Bonaparte 

 notes it as permanent and common near Rome. It visits the southern 

 coasts of England, from Sussex to the Land's End. It visits Wales, 



SAT. HI8T. DIV. VOL. I. 



and has been taken in the north of Ireland. It visits also Suffolk and 

 Norfolk, and the northern counties of England. It is a summer visitor 

 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Lapland. 



The male Black-Cap is nearly 6 inches in length, and about 4^ drachms 

 in weight. Upper part of the head black ; back of the neck ashy 

 brown ; upper parts of the body gray, with a greeuish tinge ; quills 

 and tail dusky, edged with dull green ; breast and belly light ash- 

 colour ; legs and feet bluish-gray, or lead-colour ; bill brown ; hides 

 dark hazel. 



The female is of larger size ; the crown of the head is of an umber- 

 brown or rust-colour ; and the plumage generally is darker, and more 

 inclining to greenish than it is in the male. 



The plumage of the young when they leave the nest resembles that 

 of the female. 



Gardens, orchards, and thick hedges are the favourite haunts of the 

 Black-Cap ; and there, among brambles and nettles, or in some low 

 bush, its nest is built. Dry stalks of goose-grass and a little wool, 

 lined with fibrous roots, and frequently with a few long hairs, with 

 now and then a little moss on the outside, form the structure. Four or 

 five, sometimes six eggs of a reddjgh-brown, weighing about 35 grains, 

 mottled with a darker colour, and sometimes dotted with a few ashy 

 specks, are then deposited. Pennant speaks of a nest which he dis- 

 covered in a spruce fir. Temminck mentions the hawthorn-bush as 

 the most frequent place. 



The Black-Cap in a state of nature is with difficulty seen when 

 singing, at which time it seems to take pains to secrete itself. White 

 however, who saw it in this act, says that while warbling the throat 

 is wonderfully distended. 



In captivity it seems to be a great favourite not only from its song 

 but from its attractive qualities. Even in a state of nature it is a 

 mocking bird, and when caged it soon learns the notes of the night- 

 ingale and canary. The female is also, but in a limited degree, a 

 songster. 



Bechstein speaks of the striking affection which it shows for its 

 mistress : " It utters a particular sound, a more tender note to 

 welcome her ; at her approach he darts against the wires of his cage, 

 and by a continued fluttering, accompanied with little cries, he seems 

 to express his eagerness and gratitude. A young male, which I had 

 put in the hot-house for the winter, was accustomed to receive from 

 my hand every time I entered a meal-worm ; this took place so regu- 

 larly, that immediately on my arrival he placed himself near the little 

 jar where I kept the meal-worms. If I pretended not to notice this 

 signal, he would take flight, and, passing close under my nose, imme- 

 diately resume his post ; and this he repeated, sometimes even striking 

 me with his wing, till I satisfied his wishes and impatience." 



BLACK-COCK, one of the English names for the Heath-Cock, the 

 male of the Black Game or Black Grouse ; the Birk-Hahn of the 

 Germans; Coq do Bruyere a Queue Fourchue, Coq de Bois, and Faisaii 

 Bruyant (Belon), of the French ; Gallo di Monte, Gallo Cedrone, Gallo 

 Selvatico, Gallo Alpestre, Fasan Negro, and Fasiauo Alpestre of the 

 Italians ; Orrfugl of the Norwegians ; Tetrao tea, Urogallm minor of 

 Willughby and Ray ; Tetrao tetrix of Linnaeus ; and Lyrurns tetrix 

 of Swainson. The female is called a Gray Hen, and the young are 

 named Poults,* a term which is applied to the Black Game generally 

 on the borders of Hampshire and Dorsetshire. 



This noble bird, whose plumage when in full beauty has defied all 

 pencils save that of Edwin Lanclseer, the only painter who has given 

 a true idea of it, is now the largest of its race in the British Islands, 

 of whose fauna it is one of the principal ornaments. It is, says Tem- 

 minck, more widely diffused over the central parts of Europe than the 

 Capercailzie (Tetrao [frogallvs, Pennant); or the Rakkelhan (Tetrao 

 mrditu, Meyer). In Germany, France, and Holland it is tolerably 

 plentiful : in the northern countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, 

 Norway, and Russia it abounds. 



Of the southern counties of England, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, 

 Somersetshire, and Devonshire possess it, and now and then it is seen 

 in the heathy parts of Sussex and Surrey. In the New Forest, and 

 the wild heaths on the borders of Hampshire and Dorsetshire, in the 

 neighbourhood of Wimborne, it is perhaps more common than it is 

 anywhere else in the south. The Quantocfcs, and some other uncul- 

 tivated tracts in Somersetshire, and Dartmoor and Sedgemoor in 

 Devonshire are its head-quarters in those counties ; but it is com- 

 paratively rare. 



Staffordshire has it sparingly, and Northumberland plentifully. 



In the Highlands of Scotland the Black-Cock is abundant, and it is 

 found in some of the Hebrides. In North Wales it occurs sparingly, 

 where it is strictly preserved. 



The following account of the haunts and habits of the Black-Cock 

 is from the pen of Mr. Selby : 



" The bases of the hills in heathy and mountainous districts, which 

 are covered with a natural growth of birch, alder, and willow, and 

 intersected by morasses clothed with long and coarse herbage, as well 

 as the deep and wooded glens so frequently occurring in extensive 

 wastes, are the situations best suited to the habits of these birds, and 



* This is an old name for the Wnck Came. Thus Turbenile (1(111) writ, 

 "If your goh:iwkr> he once a good partridgcr, beware that you let her not flee 

 the pout or the feasant." 



2 K 



