B L A 



481 



13 L A 



in the beginning of autumn, are changed 

 into Jicedulce, or beccafigos, 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 beccafieos (avieaXiSic) and the black-caps 

 (fu\ayic6pv<poi) are changed into each other. Indeed, Wil- 

 lughby thus heads his chapter on the black-cap: ' The 

 Black-cap : Atricapilla seu Ficedula, Aldrov. ; called by Ihe 

 Greeks SurnXif et MtXayxopvipos ; by the Italians, Capo 

 Negro.' The passage in Aristotle may be thus freely 

 translated : 



' And, in like manner, beccafieos and black- caps, for 

 these too are changed into each other. The bird is a becea- 

 fico at the commencement 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 com- 

 plete, 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 colo- 

 remque mutant. Hoc nomen non nisi autumno habent, 

 postea mclancoryphi vocantur.' 



Belon (ed. 1555, folio) makes the bulfinch the avca\ie 

 and /ifXayicopv^oe of the Greeks, and beccafighi of the Itali- 

 ans, naming it also atricapilla ; 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 atricapilla, are 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 retained. 



Upon the whole, there is reason for coming to the con- 

 clusion that our blacVcap is the bird alluded to by Aristotle. 

 Ray seems to have been of this opinion, for he thus records 

 it in his Synopsis: 'Atricapilla sive ficedula, Aldrov.; 

 ffvaa\is et juXay/ciipu^oc, Graocis ; the black-cap.' 



It occurs frequently in the greater portion of Europe, 

 through the northern and eastern parts of which it is widely 

 diffused. Temminck says that it is rare beyond the Apen- 

 nines and Pyrenees. Bonaparte notes it as permanent 

 and common near Rome. 



The male black-cap is nearly six inches in length, and 

 ab.int four drams and a half in weight. Upper part of the 

 head black; back of the neck ashy brown; upper parts 

 of the body grey, with a greenish tinge ; quills and tail 

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

 colour ; legs and feet bluish-grey, or lead-colour; bill brown : 

 iri'li's 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 re- 

 sembles 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, some- 

 times six, eggs of a reddish-brown, weighing about thirty- 

 five grains, mottled with a darker colour, and sometimes 

 dotted with a few ashy specks, are then deposited. Pennant 

 speaks of a nest which he discovered in a spruce fir. Tem- 

 minck 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 scerete 

 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 nightingale 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 gra- 



titude. A young male, which I had put in the hot-house 

 for the winter, was accustomed to receive from my hano. 

 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, immediately resume his post ; and this 

 lie repeated, sometimes even striking me with his wing, till 

 I satisfied his wishes and impatience.' 



The bird under consideration must not be confounded 

 with another soft-billed black-cap, Sylvia melanocephala of 

 Latham, MotaciUa melanocephala of Gmelin, which, accord- 

 ing to Temminck, only inhabits the most southern parts of 

 Kuropo, such as the south of Spain, Sardinia, and the Nea- 

 politan States. He says that some pairs of these were killed 

 by M. Natterer at Algesiras and near Gibraltar. This again, 

 says Temminck, may be easily confounded with a third, 

 Sylvia Sarda of Marmora, which is very common in certain 

 districts of Sardinia, but not found in others. Temminck 

 adds that it probably also lives in the kingdom of Naples, 

 and in Sicily. The males of both these last are about five 

 inches long. 



BLACK-CAPPED TOM-TIT. [See TITMOUSE.] 

 BLACK-COCK (zoology), one of the English names for 

 the heath-cock, the male of the black game or black grouse; 

 Der Birk-hahn of the Germans ; Coq de brw/ere a queue 

 fourchue, Coq de bois, and Faisan bruyant (Belon), of the 

 French; Gallo di monte, Gallo cedrone, Gallo selvatico, 

 Gallo alpestre, Fasan negro, and Fnsiafio alpestre of the 

 Italians ; Orrfugl of the Norwegians ; Tetrao seu urogallus 

 minor of Willughby and Ray ; Tetrao tetrix of Linncous ; 

 and Lyrurus telr/.r of Swainson. The female is called a 

 grey hen, and the young are named poults* a term which 

 is applied to the black game generally on the borders of 

 Hampshire and Dorsetshire. 



Lyrurus tetrix.] 



This noble bird, whose plumage when in full beauty has 

 defied all pencils save that of Edwin Landseer, 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 Temminck, more widely 

 diffused over the central parts of Europe than the caper- 

 cailzie (Tetrao urogallus) ; or the rakkelhan, Temrainck 

 (Tetrao medius, Meyer. In Germany, France, and Hol- 

 land, it is tolerably plentiful : in the northern countries, such 

 as Denmark, Sweden. Norway, and Russia, it abounds. 



This is nil old name for Hie blai-lt-gnma. Thus Turbervile (161 1) write!. 

 I f your goshiuvkc l-e once a good partrMgar, beware that you let her not Ike 



the puut or the feasuut.' 



NO. 2C5. 



[THE PENNY CYCLOPEDIA.] 



VOL. IV. 3 Q 



