108 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



take to tho wing, it rarely flies high or to any great distance. There 

 are many persons who have frequently heard the sweet song of this 

 modest and retiring bird, but have never caught more than a momen- 

 tary glimpse of its form. Mudie, in his British Birds, states that he 

 endeavoured to obtain some insight into the habits of Nightingales by 

 personal observation, extending over a period of five years, in a spot 

 where they were abundant, but at the end of that time he was about 

 as wise as at the beginning. 



The Nightingale is the largest of the British Warblers, the male 

 being from six and three quarters to seven inches in length, between 

 ten and eleven in the stretch of its wings, and about six drachms in 

 weight. The upper mandible is blackish brown, with a tinge of red, 

 the lower pale yellowish, and dusky brown at the point. The head, 

 back, tail, and wings, are of a uniform rich brown, tinged with chesnut. 

 The chin and throat are dull greyish white; the breast, and under 

 surface of the body, of the same colour, except that the former is 

 slightly tinged with brown. The logs, toes, and claws, are pale grey- 

 ish brown. The female is similar in colour, but rather less in size. 

 The young have the feathers on the under surface of the body with 

 dark margins, and those on the upper surface spotted with buff colour. 



THE BLACKCAP, 



(Sylvia atricapilla.) 

 PLATE VII. FIGURE II. 



THE scientific name of this species is derived from the Latin words 

 sylota a wood, atcr black, and capillus the hair of the head; their 

 application is sufficiently plain, as tho most prominent feature in the 

 appearance of this little gentleman is his black pate. In some parts 

 of the country he is called the Mock Nightingale, and in the richness 

 and variety of his notes, he is only excelled by our prince of 

 songsters, which he somewhat resembles in plumage. His favourite 

 position when singing is the topmost branch of a bush or low tree, 

 from whence, with distended throat, he pours forth a rich, full, and 

 sweet warble, that charms and delights, while it astonishes the hearer, 

 by the variety of its melodious trills and cadences. Some authors 



