GARDEN-WARBLER.— BLACKCAP. 73 



editor of Vol. I. of the 4th edition of YarrelPs B. B. 

 informs us that it was first made known as a native of this 

 country by Willughby. 



BLACKCAP. 



Sylvia atricapilla. 



The Blackcap, the Wheatear, and the Chiffchaff are, I 

 think, the earliest of our immigrants to herald the glad 

 tidings of the approach of spring. I have several times 

 heard the very pleasing note of the Blackcap as early as the 

 1st of March. Like the Garden- Warbler it is very fond of 

 fruits and berries, and it appears to have the same predi- 

 lection for cherries, privet, and elderberries. 



The nest also is very similar, but the bird is much more 

 familiar, and often places it in shrubberies, where it seems 

 rather to court its destruction by selecting some loose and 

 open-growing bush such as the snowberry, in one of which, 

 in my own garden, a nest was built for four consecutive 

 seasons, presumably by the same pair of birds, or by the 

 advice of a survivor of a former tenant of the nest. 



I have not noticed that it betakes itself to higher branches 

 of the trees, but it appears rather to prefer the lower shrubs 

 and bushes. It leaves the country early in September, Mr. 

 Jeifery remarks, in his private notes, that the Blackcap feeds 

 on ripe figs, the berries of the Daphne mezereum, and those 

 of the mountain-ash, which it swallows whole. 



