BLACK CAP. 327 



those summer visitants that sing on a perch during the 

 day. The birds themselves would need to be con- 

 sulted before we can find an alphabet ; but the follow- 

 ing seven notes, gradually shortening the first four, 

 making the fifth and sixth very short, prolonging the 

 oo and shortening the i in the last, half sung half whis- 

 tled, bears some resemblance to the song of the black- 

 cap : Oui oui oui out oo oo odi. The notes 

 always the same sounds, but they admit of a con- 

 siderable number of modulations. The bird is by 

 no means sparing of its music, and will often begin 

 singing when its song is imitated by boys ; and when 

 there are several of them in the same coppice, 

 they frequently form a regular and prolonged con- 

 test which shall sing the loudest ; and they sometimes 

 begin in a key which they cannot sustain through 

 the whole compass of their notes, suddenly stop short, 

 and begin again after a short pause. The blackcaps 

 are not so wholly dependent upon insect food as some 

 of their congeners ; and therefore those that come 

 before the equinoctial storms that sometimes shut up 

 the earth in frost for several days, are not reduced to 

 the same extremity as some other migratory birds. 

 They can eat the berries of ivy, and the others that 

 form part of the food of the resident birds in the early 

 spring ; and when insects begin to be scarce before 

 the blackcaps take their departure, they become plun- 

 derers of gardens. This is a common habit with such 

 of the sylvan warblers as come near the habitations of 

 men ; and they levy on cherries, currants, strawberries, 

 and other small and early fruits, a tax for the service 

 which they render in destroying the insects, and the 



