WHITETHROATS, BLACKCAP, GARDEN-WARBLER 39 



The blackcap's nesting habits may be more easily observed than 

 those of the garden- warbler, as the former are somewhat less shy. 

 Unlike the garden-warbler, the male takes very little part in the nest 

 building, but sits near and sings. Occasionally, however, he makes 

 supplementary nests mere platforms, upon which he has been known 

 to sit and sing. But so artistic a singer could hardly be expected to 

 be an expert artisan you can't have everything in one individual ; 

 the female blackcap, however, seems well content with her mate, and 

 willing to work for him. Then, too, he is a born fighter ; few birds 

 so jealously guard their own territory. In fact he is an ideal knight, 

 full of courage and address, a regular " Young Lochinvar," 



" So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war," 



who would sing or dance away any female heart. No sooner is the 

 prosaic building and furnishing of the nest completed in which 

 he certainly takes some part, than the male blackcap shares equally 

 with his russet-crowned mate the arduous duties of incubating, and 

 later on of brooding and feeding the young. There is no shirking 

 of responsibilities here ; the artist becomes merged in the husband 

 and father ; his song loses its vitality till after the first brood is fledged, 

 when there is another song-period from the end of June till the end 

 of July ; while on the Riviera the first sounds that greet our ears on 

 a January morning may be the mellow flute of the blackcap, the 

 artist in him once more triumphant. 



As the males of all four species share not only in incubation, but 

 in brooding and feeding the young, and seeing that they also take 

 some part in building the nest, they may fairly claim to be considered 

 model mates. 



In the case of the whitethroats, I have seen one of the parents 

 brood, while the other brings food ; usually the one which brings food 

 takes its companion's place on the nest. As the family increases in 

 size and strength, both parents are constantly employed from dawn till 

 dark. I have seen them still carrying food to the nest at 8.45 on a 



