394 BRITISH BIRDS. 



SYLVIA ATRICAPILLA. 

 BLACKCAP. 



(PLATE 10.) 



Ficedula curruca atricapilla, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 380 (1760). 



Motacilla atricapilla, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 332 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Latham), (Bechstein), (Tcmminck\ (Gray), (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Locke), 



(Newton), (Gould), fyc. 



Sylvia atricapilla (Briss.), Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 156 (1769). 

 Curruca atricapilla (Briss.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 155 (1816). 

 Monachus atricapilla (Briss.), Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 33 (1829). 

 Curruca heinekeni, Jard. Edirib. Journ. Nat. $ Geogr. Sc. i. p. 243 (1830). 

 Curruca nigricapilla, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 417 (1831, nee Cab.). 

 Curruca pileata, Brehm, Tog. Deutschl. p. 418 (1831). 

 Ficedula atricapilla (Briss.), Blyth, fiennie's Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833). 

 Curruca rubricapilla, Landbeck, Vog. Wurtemb. p. 44 (1834). 

 Philomela atricapilla (Briss.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 240 (1837). 

 Epilais atricapilla (Briss.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 36 (1850). 

 Sylvia naumanni, Von Milller, Naum. 1851, pt. 4, p. 26. 

 Sylvia (Curruca) ruficapilla, Naum. Vog. Deutschl. xiii. p. 411 (1853). 

 Sylvia heinekeni (Jard.), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 213. no. 3018 (1860). 

 Sylvia ruficapilla (Naum.}, Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 213. no. 3020 (1869). 



The Blackcap Warbler, or, as it is generally called, the Blackcap, is one 

 of the best-known of all the Warblers that visit us in spring and remain 

 on our islands during the summer to rear their young. It is also, though 

 by no means the earliest, a comparatively early migrant, and may be 

 noticed in its accustomed haunts by the middle of April. It is even very 

 probable that a few Blackcaps remain in their old haunts through the 

 winter; for many examples have been observed at that season. A female 

 bird of this species was shot in the winter of 1881 near Sheffield, and is 

 now preserved in the Museum there ; and other instances have come under 

 Dixon's notice. Mr. Rodd also states that the bird is sometimes found in 

 winter near Penzance. The Blackcap is a regular spring migrant to most 

 of the wooded parts of England and Wales ; and it would appear to be 

 increasing in numbers in some counties, as, for instance, in Cornwall. 

 Even in England the bird is to a certain extent a local one. Mr. Cordeaux 

 writes that the Blackcap passes regularly through N.E. Lincolnshire in the 

 spring and autumn on migration, but that its nest is rarely found. In the 

 Channel Islands the bird, according to Professor Ansted, is confined to 

 Guernsey ; and Cecil Smith states that it is generally known in that island 

 as the " Guernsey Nightingale," where it is a regular though not common 

 summer visitant. In Scotland the Blackcap becomes less common and 



