BLACKCAP. 399 



and the underparts, cheeks, and nape are huffish brown. The male in first 

 plumage resembles the female, and is said to attain the black head in the 

 first autumn by a change in the colour of the feathers and not by a 

 moult. It is also alleged that this bird has no spring moult ; but these 

 statements require verification. The following facts tend to confirm the 

 natural conclusion that this species does not differ in these respects from 

 its congeners : A male, which I shot in Heligoland on the 2nd of October, 

 evidently a bird of the year, has a black head, but each feather is broadly 

 tipped and margined with reddish brown ; these feathers would probably 

 be moulted early in the following year into the black feathers of the 

 adult. The exact date of the spring moult appears to be very uncertain ; 

 but, as Naumann states, no doubt the spring plumage is attained by a 

 change of feather. I have an example, obtained in Asia Minor on the 

 18th of December, which has begun to moult its tail-feathers ; and I have 

 another, obtained in Heligoland in May, in which one of the outside tail- 

 feathers has not attained its full length, whilst examples obtained in the 

 Florence market on the 1st of March have all the appearance of birds which 

 have only just completed their moult. If this bird moults very early in 

 the year, as the Garden-Warbler certainly does, this fact may explain the 

 arrival of many birds in our islands in spring in somewhat abraded 

 plumage ; but some examples have the edges of the quill- and tail- 

 feathers so extremely perfect that it is impossible not to believe that they 

 have not only had a spring moult, but probably, from some cause or 

 other, they moulted somewhat later than usual, and were fortunate 

 enough to have fine weather during their migration. 



