14 WARBLER. 



Blackcap, Gen. Syn. iv. 415. Br. Zool. i. No. 148. Id.fol. 101. t. S. 5. Id. Ed. 

 1812. i. p. 505. Collins's Birds, pi. 6. f. 10. pi. 10. f. 4. Shatv's Zool. x. 648. 

 Arct. Zool. ii. 418. F. Bewick, i. pi. p. 217. Lewin, iii. pi. 116. Walcot, ii. 

 pi. 234. Pult. Dorset, p. 9. Oriu Diet. 



LENGTH five inches or more, weight four drachms and a half. 

 Bill brown ; irides dark hazel ; crown of the head black ; plumage on 

 the upper parts of the body greenish ash-colour; sides of the head 

 and under parts grey ; vent almost white ; quills and tail cinereous 

 brown; the feathers margined with ash-colour; the two middle ones 

 a trifle shorter than the rest; legs lead-colour. 



The female has the crown ferruginous chestnut, instead of black. 

 >The species is not uncommon in England, comes the end of April,* 

 aud departs the end of September, or beginning of October ; gene- 

 rally builds in a low bush, not far from the ground : the nest 

 composed of dried stalks, with a little wool and green moss, and 

 lined with the fibres of roots, thinly covered with black horse-hair; 

 the eggs four or five, pale reddish brown, mottled with a deeper 

 colour, sprinkled with a few dark spots. The male and female sit 

 in turn, and the young very early provide for themselves. It should 

 appear, that individuals sometimes remain in England throughout 

 the winter, as Mr. Lewin once shot a male in Kent, in January. 

 The food is for the most part insects, but these birds will also eat 

 the berries of Spurge laurel, Service, and especially those of Ivy ; 

 and of these last seem fond, for we have found them in the stomach, 

 at a time when insects were in plenty ; and more than once have 

 observed them to build in an old ivy, pretty high from the ground. 

 The song is much esteemed, and thought almost equal to that of 

 the Nightingale, scarcely deficient, except in the delightful Variety 

 of the last named ; and has been called the Mock Nightingale ; in 

 some counties Nettle Creeper, and Nettle Monger. 



* Mr. White says,- they come trooping all at once, the first fine weather in April, and 

 adds, they are delicate songsters. — Hist. Sell), p. 29. 



