THE BLACKCAP. 153 



dislike cold, for they all press closely against each 

 other; and the blackcap, when kept in a cage, 

 spreads some of its feathers over its feet to keep 

 them warm. 



One cannot help feeling a gTcat liking for a 

 little bird so gentle, and capable of exhibiting so 

 much attachment. We instinctively prefer it to 

 the species less susceptible of this. We know 

 that it is not the result of thought, but the na- 

 tural impulse of the kind ; and that the wild way- 

 wardness of the cuckoo, and its consignment of all 

 care of its young to the stranger bird, is as much 

 its implanted instinct as is the winning disposition 

 of the blackcap ; but, as it is in our regard to 

 individuals of the human family, after making 

 every allowance in unpleasin'g dispositions, either 

 on the score of natural and hereditary temper, or 

 of ill-training, so we still turn away from the 

 unlovely, to give our regards to tlie loving and 

 the loveable. 



The blackcap usually arrives in our land about 

 the first week in April, and leaves us in k>cptem- 

 ber, one or two lingering, now and then, as late 

 as October. Directly it arrives, it begins looking 

 about very carefully for a good place for its nest, 



