63 



THE BLACKCAP. 



Sylvia atricapilla (L.). 



The Blackcap entered the country along the whole of the 

 south coast, but chiefly on the western half. 



A male seen in Somerset on the 14th and 15th of 

 January, and killed by a cat three days later, had doubtless 

 remained in the locality from the previous autumn. 



During the fourth week in March stragglers began to make 

 their appearance in the southern counties, and from that 

 date up to the 2nd of April single birds or small numbers 

 were recorded in Cornwall, Devonshire, Hampshire, Sussex, 

 Surrey, Berkshire, Somerset and Gloucester. Between the 

 3rd and the 9th small immigrations occurred, chiefly in the 

 west, which served to extend the bird^s range somewhat 

 further north ; but with the exception of an early straggler 

 which reached Renfrew on the 5th, none seem to have 

 penetrated beyond a line through north Wales, Shropshire, 

 Staffordshire and Leicester before the 20th of April. 



On the 14th and 15th a second small immigration occurred, 

 which apparently served to fill up gaps in the area already 

 occupied. 



From the 18th to the 28th arrivals on rather a larger scale 

 took place along the whole of the south coast, and the effect 

 of these was at once apparent in extending the bird''s range 

 towards the north. Derbyshire and Yorkshire were reached 

 on the 20th and Cumberland and Northumberland on the 

 following day. The northward passage of some of these 

 migrants is also shown by their occurrence at Bardsey light 

 (Carnarvon) on the 21st/22nd, while East Anglia, which 

 had hitherto been but thinly populated, began to fill up 

 about the same time. 



