THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 229.— January, 1896. 

 



NOTES ON A NEWLY-DISCOVERED HABIT IN THE 

 BLACKCAP WARBLER AND OTHER BIRDS. 



By John Lowe, M.D., F.L.S. 



The first part of this paper appeared in the pages of ' The 

 Zoologist' for 1893. The later observations were made in 

 Algeria and Corsica in the years 1894-5. Through the kindness 

 of the Editor, I am enabled to give the whole of the notes in a 

 continuous form. This it is advisable to do, as the later observa- 

 tions have to do with plants of species differing from those in 

 the Canary Islands, although the habits of the birds are very 

 similar. 



In the garden of the Marianez Hotel, Orotava, Tenerife, are 

 some large bushes of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis which in March are 

 covered with brilliant scarlet blossoms. These being situated 

 only a few feet from the balcony, one could, when sitting there, 

 observe with great facility everything that passed on them. They 

 were, at the time of my visit, a favourite resort of the Blackcap 

 Warblers,* which came there to feed, taking but little notice of 

 any one who might be on the balcony. 



My attention was first called to these birds by observing the 

 male every now and then fly to one of the flowers, creep along its 

 stei \ and peck at the calyx. On examining the flower to see 

 what this proceeding meant, I found, in almost every instance, 



* The Italians call the bird " Capo-nera." 

 ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL, XX. JAN. 1896. B 



