48 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



throat," and he was informed that individuals 

 were sometimes found with " the whole of the 

 under parts of the body black." This variety 

 appears to have been met with also in Madeira, 

 from whence it was described by Heineken 

 (" Zool. Journ." v. p. 75). A figure of it will 

 be found in Jardine and Selby's " Illustrations 

 of Ornithology," pi. 94. 



However much observers may be deceived 

 by song, there is no mistaking either sex of the 

 Blackcap as soon as the bird comes in view. 

 The black crown of the male and the brown 

 crown of the female suffice to distinguish the 

 species amongst every other of our summer 

 migrants. There is something very peculiar, 

 too, about the half-hopping, half-creeping 

 motions of all the Fruit-eating Warblers, which 

 distinguishes them at once from other small 

 birds frequenting the same haunts. 



The males invariably arrive some days before 

 the females ; but both sexes seem to leave the 

 country much about the same time — that is, 

 early in September. 



