CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS, 
Blackcaps are by no means plentiful birds, and a good 
cock will fetch as liigli a price as any songster bronglit into 
the market^ except a choice canary, a piping bullhnch, or 
some other highly educated feathered performer 5 they are 
about the same size as the linnet : the prevailing colours of 
the plumage are ashen gray and olive green ; it is the male ' 
only which has the black covering at the top of the head, I 
from which the name is derived ; the head of the female is a 
reddish brown, and she is generally the larger bird of the 
two 5 she also occasionally sings, and hence has been some- 
times considered a distinct species, and called the red-capped 
warbler. 
The hemispherical nest of this bird, with its five or six 
yellowish white eggs, mottled and spotted with yellow and 
brown, may often be found in a white-thorn, or some other 
thick prickly bush or hedge, not far from the ground. The 
old birds feed their young with caterpillars, moths, and other 
insects ; they can be reared on bread and milk without much 
difficulty, or the same food as that recommended for the 
nightingales. If brought up near one of these birds and a 
canary, they will acquire a beautiful song, composed of their < 
own natural notes and those of these brilliant performers. It 
is not until after the first moulting that the cap, which dis- 
tinguishes the male from the female, begins to appear 5 if, 
therefore, you wish at this early period of life to determine 
the sex of the bird, you must do as Bechstein recom- 
mends, that is> pull out a few feathers from the top of 
the head ; should the bird be a male these brown feathers 
will soon be replaced by black ones. This bird will 
sing in confinement during the greater part of the year ; it 
soon becomes familiar, and will readily take to feed on 
bruised hemp-seed, and bread, if some currants, raspberries, 
or other small fruit, be stuck into it. Some kind of fruit ap- 
pears always requisite to keep the bird in perfect health. 
]Elder-berries in the autumn, and privet-berries in the winter, 
with slices of pine, or soft sweet apple, should be given it, 
with a few flies and spiders occasionally. If loose in a room, 
it should have a snug corner with a pine-branch for a perch, 
but it seems to do best in a cage, which should be tolerably 
commodious. It has been known to live from twelve to six- 
teen years in confinement. It is subject to much the same 
