BLACKCAP. 39 



58. REED WARBLER. (Salicaria aruridinacea) . 



Heed Wren, Night Warbler. Almost as zealous a songster as 

 the Sedge Warbler. There are few hours in the twenty-four 

 when its voice may not be heard about its accustomed haunts ; 

 namely, willow and reed beds, and particularly the latter. The 

 nest is, perhaps, the deepest made by any English bird, and 

 quite a long inverted cone in shape. It is affixed to or rather 

 built so as to include three or four reeds, or more. So that, 

 however the wind blows, it is quite fast, while its great depth 

 prevents the eggs falling out, even if the reeds be blown almost 

 level. The bird has been, seen still sitting when the violent 

 gusts forced the nest down almost to the water level. The nest 

 is made of long grass and the seed-stalks of the reed, and lined 

 . with wool or the like. Four or five eggs of a greenish white 

 colour, marked in spots and dashes of green and pale brown, 

 are usually laid. fig. 4, plate III. 



59. NIGHTINGALE. (Philomela Luscinia). 



This sweetest of the English warblers has but a limited range. 

 In Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, I used to hear it abun- 

 dantly ; but of late years, as a resident in Yorkshire, its note 

 has become strange in my ears. Shy and vigilant in its habits, 

 it does not willingly expose itself to observation, and its haunts 

 are so thick that discovery of its nest is not always easy. It 

 seems often an untidy structure, but according to my observation 

 not usually built on the ground, as Mr. Yarrell states. I have 

 found it in a thick thorn hedge or bush, and in shrubs in the 

 garden; made of twigs, straw, grass, and especially old oak- 

 leaves, and with only a jagged margin. The eggs, four and 

 sometimes five of them, are of " an uniform olive-brown colour," 

 and from the time they are laid, the bird only sings occasionally. 

 After they are hatched, never. Fig. 5, plate III. 



60. BLACKCAP. (Curmca atricapilla). 



Blackcap Warbler. This bird, with several others, has a local 

 o: country name in common, derivable, I believe, from the 

 structure of the nest. I mean Hay-jack or Hay-chat ; but it is, 

 I think, much less frequently distinguished by that name than 

 the three birds next to be mentioned. The country boy's name 

 for one of these nests must always be distrusted, as is the case 

 also with his designation of other common, but much more 

 dissimilar birds. Thus, not to mention other instances, the 

 Blackcap proper, the Greater Tom-tit and the Stone-chat are 

 all called Blackcap. The Blackcap warbler comes to us in spring, 



