32 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
them have high notes which the Garden Warbler 
has not, and this gives a much greater variety and 
richness to their song. The Garden Warbler's 
song is a sweet, swift warble, lower in tone than 
most of the other songs of the wood, and remark- 
able for the length to which it is poured forth 
without a pause. The Blackcap's is generally 
more broken into lengths, except in the case of the 
best performers ; but whether the performer be 
bad or good, the high notes give a range and variety 
to the Blackcap's song which the Garden Warbler's 
does not possess. They are often near enough 
neighbours to make it not very difficult to hear 
and compare both songs without having far to 
search. The Garden Warbler, however, is much 
the more local species of the two, though where it 
is present it often outnumbers the Blackcap con- 
siderably. The Blackcap's plumage is ashy-grey 
with a brownish tinge above, and clear pale grey 
beneath, while the cock has the upper half of the 
head jet-black and the hen reddish-brown. It 
arrives about the middle of April, but a few 
individuals sometimes stay all the winter in 
sheltered parts of the country. It builds a very 
frail and delicate nest of dry grass-like stems 
bound with wool or cobweb, and lined with horse- 
hair, hanging it among brambles, undergrowth, or 
the smaller branches of trees and garden shrubs at 
