BLACKCAP — GARDEN- WARBLER. 
53 
I have but few notes of its breeding from Mr. Davenport, who considers it, as 
I do, less common, or more local, than S. cinerea. He writes : — “In May, 1870, 
I found a nest of the Lesser Whitethroat containing four eggs, the size of the 
Golden-crested Kegulus’ eggs, and the colour of a Starling’s ; in one or two of 
the eggs the yolk had dried up, making the blowing of them a difficult task : 
and, moreover, there were no signs of the birds near the nest, making it appear 
as if, aware of something wrong, they had deserted it after the batch was laid. 
Within three weeks afterwards, and close to the same spot in the same hedge, 
I found a similar nest, eggs precisely similar in number, colour, and size, and 
apparently again forsaken as in the first instance, for the yolks were more dried 
up. A pair of the eggs to be seen in my collection.” The Lesser Whitethroat 
he has noticed to be more abundant in those years when the Garden-Warbler 
appeared scarce. The dates of the first eggs taken by him are : — In 1882, 
8th May; 1883, 30th May; 1884, 17th May; and in 1885, 12th IMay. The Eev. 
H. Parry kindly brought me a nest and two eggs from Tugby on 2nd June, 1888. 
In Eutland. — A summer migrant, sparingly distributed, and breeding. — Mr. 
Horn says it is known as the “ Strawsucker.” In 1886 he noticed it on 23rd 
April, and, on 13th May, found a nest containing two eggs, and remarks that 
this bird is very shy of interference, forsaking its nest at once if disturbed. 
BLACKCAP. Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus). 
“ Black-headed Peggy.” 
A summer migrant, sparingly distributed, and breeding. — ]Mr. IMacaulay 
writes (‘ Mid. Nat.’, 1881, p. 254) : — “ Follows closely on the heels of the Chiff-chaff, 
usually arriving in the first week of April, and on one occasion, in 1877, I heard 
its lovely song on March 24th.” If no mistake has been made, this is extra- 
ordinary, being at least a week in advance of the earliest date recorded. 
Harley remarked that it builds in thick bushes and scrubs, but that he 
had met with its nest on the ground among tall matted grass, composed mainly 
of cleavers, soft grass, and other vegetable substances, matted and woven 
together with cobweb, and lined with hair. The nest may be very easily 
mistaken by a careless observer for that of the Whitethroat. He describes the 
eggs as “ generally five, greyish-white, faintly blotched and freckled with purplish- 
grey marks, streaked with blackish-brown.” Mr. H. S. Davenport has found 
the nest and eggs, from 1882 to 1888, between 8th and 18th May. 
In Eutland. — A summer migrant, sparingly distributed, and breeding. — 
Mr. Horn remarks that this, like the preceding species, is very shy of interference. 
GAEDEN-WAEBLEE. Sylvia hortensis (Bechstein). 
“ Greater Pettychaps ” (obsolete). 
A summer migrant, generally distributed, breeding, and more common than 
the Blackcap. 
