76 THE BLACKCAP WARBLER 



feathers are edged with buff or fawn colour, and the under-parts 

 of the body are fawn with blackish markings upon the 

 breast. The legs are pale buff and the toes black. The beak is 

 also black, and the ears, as the tufts of feathers on the head, arc 

 brown. Its haunts are heath and moorland, bracken-districts, 

 furzy downs, hill pastures, marshes, and sometimes meadows, 

 turnip-fields and other tracts of highly-cultivated land. It chiefly, 

 however, is found in the north of England and in Scotland, where, 

 and in marshes, it is safe from molestation, there also being abun- 

 dance of food. This consists of field and grass voles, mice and young 

 rats, beetles and other insects in larval and pupal as well as adult 

 stages. It also feeds upon young game both ground and winged, 

 though, being migratory and for the most part leaving this country 

 before the advent of the game breeding season, the damage to game 

 preserves is exceedingly small, there being very few short-eared owls 

 outstaying the woodcocks, both arriving and departing about the 

 same time, hence the term " woodcock owl." Indeed, the short- 

 eared owl only exceptionally breeds in Britain, as in 1891 and 1892, 

 when it nested freely, rearing two broods in a season. The nest is 

 made generally in tufts of heather or furze, or in grassy spots, if 

 marshy, on little hillocks covered with rushes and reeds. It is 

 scooped out of the earth and lined with a little dry grass or moss. 

 From four to seven eggs are generally laid, creamy white in colour, 

 but as many as thirteen eggs have been found in a nest. The pellets 

 cast near the nests are found to consist of the fur and bones of voles. 

 Though occasionally seen flying by daylight, the short -eared owl 

 works most in the twilight of dusk and dawn, when voles also are 

 most on prowl. 



The BLACKCAP WARBLER (Sylvia or Curruca atricapilla), Fig. 49, 

 a member of the family Sylvinae or True Warblers, is nearly 6 in. 

 long, and has the upper part of the head black, the hind part 

 of the neck ashy brown, the upper parts of the body dark grey, 

 with a greenish tinge, the throat, breast and belly silvery white, 

 the legs bluish, the claws black, and the bill brown. The female 

 is larger and has a darker plumage, but has not a black cap. 



The blackcap warbler arrives in England at the end of April or 

 early in May and departs therefrom in September. It is bold in 

 habits, frequenting gardens, orchards, thick hedges, and coppices. 

 Its song rivals, and by some is preferred to the nightingale, the tones 

 being more pure, easy and flute-like, varied, smooth, and delicate, 

 though possessing less volume, strength and expression. The nest 

 is built among brambles or bushes, and formed of moss, dried grass 

 and wool, lined with fibrous roots and some long hairs. The eggs, 

 five to six, are reddish-brown marked with dark spots. It feeds 

 upon insects, chiefly aphides and small caterpillars, on which the 

 young are reared. It is also fond of late sweet cherries, raspberries 

 and currants, and from its narrowness of body is difficult to exclude 



