154 OUR NATIVE SONGSTEES. 



and is exceedingly particular in this selection. 

 Gardens, orchards, and thick hedges, are its 

 favourite haunts ; and it builds among the inter- 

 lacing boughs of the bramble-bush, or among the 

 thick branches of the hawthorn, whose boughs are 

 now in leaf, and will soon be adorned with the 

 scented clusters of spring. The nest is rarely 

 •found above two or three feet from the ground, 

 and is made of the dried stems of the common 

 goosegrass or cleavers, and a small portion of 

 wool ; and lined with fibrous roots, occasionally 

 interspersed with a few long briers, or studded on 

 the outside with tufts of some gTcen moss. Four 

 or five, or sometimes six eggs are deposited in it. 

 They arc of a reddish-bro^\Ti tint, mottled with 

 a darker hue, and sometimes spotted with tiny 

 dots of an ash colour. The female bird is larger 

 than her mate, and the top of the head is dark- 

 brown instead of black. 



The blackcap is chiefly a fruit-eating bird, 

 though sometimes feeding on insects, and taking 

 them very dexterously when on the wing. On 

 its first arrival there are few berries to offer it 

 a repast, save those of the ivy, and it is among the 

 dark-green boughs of this plant that the earliest 



