THE BLACKCAP 



is one of the most pitiable of recent instances. In a 

 belt of glorious shrubbery there the Blackcap could be 

 heard in numbers all the summer through warbling 

 deliciously, the Rooks cawing noisily in the trees over- 

 head. There the Goldcrest bred, Titmice and Creepers 

 had their haunt, and the Thrush and Blackbird piped 

 the livelong day. All is now laid bare and desolate ; in 

 the meadows adjoining, some of the most magnificent 

 timber round London has been felled ; everything of 

 beauty is given over to that arch-spoiler the speculative 

 builder ! The Blackcap reaches its London haunts 

 about the middle of April, and its arrival is soon loudly 

 proclaimed by its beautiful song ; it migrates south 

 again in September. The favourite haunts of this 

 Warbler are shrubberies, coppices in which plenty of 

 brushwood clothes the ground, dense thickets and hedges, 

 orchards and large gardens. It by no means confines 

 itself to the thick growth, and often visits the trees, or 

 sits and sings on some exposed spray ; but it is fond of 

 cover, and like all its kindred threads its way through the 

 branches with celerity, from time to time uttering a 

 harsh tec-tec as if of warning or defiance. The song of 

 this Warbler is flute-like and beautiful in the extreme 

 not even the Nightingale rivals it for sweetness or variety. 

 If undisturbed the bird will continue in song for minutes 

 at a time, and it is then one can realise the wonderful 

 compass and power of his matchless melody. He con- 

 tinues in voice until the young are reared, ceasing with 

 the approach of the autumn moult. The food of this 

 Warbler consists largely of insects and larvae, but fruit 

 is eagerly sought, and even the berries of the ivy and 

 the yew. It begins nesting early in May, building its 

 home amongst the dense thickets and hedgerows. The 

 nest is a beautifully neat and rounded cup, slightly put 

 together, made externally of grass stalks, flakes of moss, 

 roots, and lined with horsehair. As is the case with most 



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