SONG BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



of dried stalks, generally of goose-grass, put toge- 

 ther in a very neat manner, with a little wool, 

 and sometimes a little green moss, on the outside : 

 the interior is lined with fibrous roots, upon which 

 are frequently placed a few long hairs. The eggs 

 are four or five in number, of a pale reddish brown, 

 mottled or stained with a few ash-coloured spots. 

 When the season is favourable, the Blackcaps 

 rear a second, and sometimes even a third brood ; 

 and when they are deprived of their eggs, they 

 persist in fresh nidifications to a much later 

 period of the season than almost any other of our 

 summer birds. 



Sir William Jardine thinks the Blackcap retires 

 in winter to Madeira, having received specimens 

 of it from that island ; but Dr. Heinaken, who 

 resided there, tells us that it is resident all the 

 year.* 



The author of the British Naturalist states that 

 it extends almost as far north into Scotland as 

 there are woods that suit its habits. It prefers 

 those that are close with underwood, and is very 

 abundant in pine plantations when young. In 

 those places it is one of the most common song 

 birds, and makes the whole wood ring with its 

 music. He likewise says that Blackcaps are not 

 so wholly dependant upon insect food as some of 

 their congeners ; and therefore those that come 

 before the equinoctial storms that sometimes shut 

 up the earth in frost for several days are not re- 

 duced to the same extremity as some other migra- 



* Zoological Journal. 



