WARBLER. PASSERES. SYLVIA. 175 
La Fauvette a téete noir, Buff: Ois. v. 5. p. 125. t. 8, £ 1.—Jd. Pl. Enl. 580. 
f. 1. and 2. male and female. 
Schwarzkopfige Grasmucke, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. v. 1. 223.—Frisch, 
t. 23. f. 1. A. and B. 
Black-cap, Br. Zool. 1. p. 148.—Arct. Zool. 2. p. 418. E.— Will. (Ang.) 
p- 226.—Lath. Syn. 4. p. 415. 5.—Lewin’s Br. Birds, 3. t. 116.—Pult. 
Cat. Dorset. p. 9.—Mont. Ornith. Dict.—Bewick’s Br. Birds, v. 1. p. t. 217. 
This species appears with us about the latter part of April, Periodical 
or, in backward seasons, not before the beginning of May ; oe 
is more generally dispersed than the preceding one, and is 
found not only throughout England, but in Scotland, where- 
ever from situation it can obtain a suitable retreat. This is 
usually in wood or thicket ; but it also frequents gardens and 
orchards. Itis of a shy nature, like most of the tribe-—It pos- Song. 
sesses much melody of song, though unequal in extent or power 
to that of the nightingale, During its song, it 1s generally 
perched upon the summit of a tree, from whence it pours forth, 
at intervals, its clear and well defined notes.—It builds in low Nest, &c. 
bushes and brambles, or amongst nettles ; and the nest, which 
is loosely put together, is formed of the dry stems of the 
cleavers (Galium aparine), frequently lined with a few hairs, 
and fine fibres of root. 
The eggs are of a reddish-brown, with spots of a darker 
shade, intermixed with others of an ash-grey colour ; and are 
four or five in number. The young of this, as well as of 
many other species, are very impatient of observation, and, 
when handled, or otherwise disturbed, immediately quit the 
nest, although but half fledged at the time.—The food of the Food. 
Black-Cap consists of insects, and the smaller sorts of fruit, 
particularly rasp-berries and red currants. Qn its first arri- 
val it feeds upon the berries of the ivy, but quits this diet as 
soon as the summer’s warmth has called a sufficiency of the 
insect tribe into existence. 
The species is widely dispersed through the northern and 
eastern parts of Kurope, extending to as high a latitude as 
‘Lapland. Itis rare beyond the Apennine and Pyrennean 
Mountains. 
