BLACKCAP. 395 



still more local. Mr. Gray states that, although nowhere numerous, it is 

 " widely distributed from near Cape Wrath to the shores of the Solway." 

 It has been obtained as late as the 8th of November in Caithness, and is 

 an occasional visitor to the Orkneys. The late Dr. Saxby was the first to 

 record this] bird as a visitor to the Shetland Islands. He writes : " It 

 is only during the last few years that I have observed it. Now, however, a 

 few males, females, and young appear regularly in the gardens at Buness 

 and Halligarth during the months of September and October. A pair once 

 attempted to build in a currant-bush at Halligarth about the beginning of 

 June, but one of the birds was, of course, killed by an odious cat." He 

 also states that it has been observed there as late as the 10th of November. 

 In Ireland the Blackcap is said to be even more local than in Scotland, 

 though it has been occasionally observed even in winter. 



On the continent the Blackcap is generally distributed throughout 

 Europe in Scandinavia ranging as far north as lat. 66, in the valley 

 of the Dwina to lat. 62, and on the Ural mountains to lat. 57 ; and 

 Dr. Finsch states that in the museum of Professor Slovzow at Omsk there 

 is an example of this bird said to have been obtained in the neighbourhood. 

 To the south its range extends into North Africa ; and it may be said to be 

 a resident in the basin of the Mediterranean, examples being found both 

 on the northern and southern shores at all times of the year. To the 

 south-east it is found in Asia Minor and Palestine, and its range extends 

 through the Caucasus to Western Persia. How far south the winter 

 range of this bird extends is not very accurately ascertained ; but it has 

 been obtained at Senegal and Gambia in the west, and Nubia and Abys- 

 sinia in the east. It appears also to be a resident in the Cape-Verd 

 Islands, Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores. Curiously enough, in the 

 two latter localities a variety occasionally occurs in which the black on the 

 crown extends to the neck, and in some specimens as far as the shoulders 

 and the breast. To this variety the name of Sylvia heinekeni has been 

 given ; but it seems doubtful whether it be any thing more than a partial 

 melanism, as it is said to occur singly in broods of the normal colour. In 

 South-eastern Europe the Blackcap is very seldom found during the 

 breeding-season, its place being apparently taken by the Orphean Warbler, 

 a species already mentioned as an accidental visitor to this country. 

 There are also in South Europe other Warblers having black heads; but 

 they may always be distinguished by their smaller size, and by having the 

 tail longer instead of shorter than the wings. 



The haunts and breeding-grounds of the Blackcap are in the most 

 secluded places not, as a rule, in the deepest woods, but in shrubberies 

 and plantations where the undergrowth is unusually dense, in gardens, 

 tangled hedgerows, and those country lanes where brambles and briars 

 hang over the hazel- and thorn-bushes. Indeed the Blackcap is to a cer- 



