THE BL.VCKCAl* WARBLER. 
at Biiness and llalligartli during the months of September and 
October. A pair once attempted to build in a currant bush at 
Halligartb, about the beginning of June, but one of tlie birds 
was of course killed by an odious cat. 
The only native songsters, if they may all be reckoned as 
such, being the Wdieatear, the IMeadow Pipit, the Pock Ibpit, 
the Skylark, the Mountain Linnet, and the Wren, it is scarcely 
to be wondered at that when some privileged Shetlander has 
the good fortune to bear the sweet notes of a stray Blackcap 
or Garden Warbler trilled forth on a clear summer’s night, he 
is only too ready to conclude that he has heard the nightin- 
i gale, and for any person intimately acquainted with that bird 
I to attempt even a suggestion to the contrary is simply throwing 
' away words. However, Shetland is far from being the only 
place in which every sweet singer among birds is thus miscalled. 
The Blackcap sometimes remains until November, but I 
I have not observed it later than the 10th. One suddenly 
aj^peared in the garden at Halligartb on the 22nd of October 
1861, during a strong east wind. It was shot, and proved to 
j be a male in good plumage, and in the stomach T found a few 
currants and some large flies. I was at a loss to know how 
the currants had been procured so late in the year, but, after 
: a careful search, 1 discovered several of a similar kind hanfrins 
I withered upon a half-hidden bush. The berries of the moun- 
5 tain ash are also a favourite food of the Blackcap. The capture 
I of one example only in Orkney is recorded by Messrs Baikie 
and Heddle, but I hear from good authority that it has been 
more frequently met with of late. 
THE GARDEN WARBLER. 
Sylvia Jiortensis. 
A rare autumn visitor, usually occurring in September. It 
is very shy, keeping well concealed among the leaves, and 
seldom exposing itself to view, except wlien suddenly darting 
