an erected crest and attitudes of rivalry and defi- 

 ance ; are shy and wild in breeding-time, avoiding 

 neighbourhoods, and haunting lonely lanes and com- 

 mons ; nay, even the very tops of the Sussex downs, 

 where there are bushes and covert ; but in July 

 and August they bring their broods into gardens 

 and orchards, and make great havoc among the 

 summer fruits. 



The blackcap has in common a full, sweet, deep, 

 loud, and wild pipe ; yet that strain is of short con- 

 tinuance, and his motions are desultory ; but when 

 that bird sits calmly and engages in song in earnest, 

 he pours forth very sweet, but inward melody, and 

 expresses great variety of soft and gentle modula- 

 tions, superior perhaps to those of any of our war- 

 blers, the nightingale excepted. Blackcaps mostly 

 haunt orchards and gardens ; while they warble, 

 their throats are wonderfully distended. 



The song of the redstart is superior, though 

 somewhat like that of the whitethroat: some birds 

 have a few more notes than others. Sitting very 

 placidly on the top of a tall tree in a village, the 

 cock sings from morning till night : he affects neigh- 

 bourhoods, and avoids solitude, and loves to build 

 in orchards and about houses ; with us he perches 

 on the vane of a tall maypole. 



The flycatcher is of all our summer birds the 



most mute and the most familiar ; it also appears 



the last of any. It builds in a vine, or a sweetbriar, 



26 



