65 



THE BLACKCAP. 



Sylvia atricapilla (L.). 



The Blackcap arrived along the whole of the south coast, 

 but in largest numbers on the western half, though the 

 majority of the early stragglers seem to have landed to 

 the east of Hampshire. 



Several individuals passed the winter in some of the 

 southern counties and were recorded on various dates 

 between the end of December and the beginning of 

 February. Towards the end of the third week in March 

 Blackcaps began to arrive in small numbers, and were 

 recorded from a good many places south of a line through 

 Somersetshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Suffolk during the 

 following fortnight, the most marked accession to their 

 numbers taking place on the 2nd and 3rd of April. 



They were first recorded from the lights in the Channel 

 Islands and the Isle of Wight on the nights of the 9th and 

 10th of April, and the arrival of these immigrants seems to 

 have extended the range of the species northwards as far 

 as Cheshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire, and westwards into 

 South Wales during the following week. 



A second immigration, unrecorded at the lights or in the 

 immediate vicinity of the coast, seems to have arrived on 

 the 19th and 20th of April and to have extended to the 

 western Midlands on the one hand and the eastern counties 

 on the other, as far north as Lincolnshire. 



The third immigration arrived in two sections ; the first 

 landed chiefly to the east of Dorsetshire on the 25th of April, 

 and the second chiefly to the west of Hampshire between the 

 28th of that month and the 2nd of May. This immigration 



