42 
BLACKCAP. 
bers during- the summer months, and that they breed there, we must 
not consider the variety observed in their feathers as a step towards the 
perfect razor-bill ; for there are others of the same class whose varieties 
are equally obscure. There would be no difficulty in supposing- that 
the old razor-bill throws off the black feathers on the sides of the head, 
throat, and fore part of the neck, as well as the white feathers that con- 
stitute the line from the bill to the eye, on the approach of winter ; that 
being- nothing- to those chang-es we notice in the wag-tails, the ptarmigan, 
and several other species; but we cannot reconcile so unusual a change of 
plumage as would be requisite to connect the razor-bill and the Black- 
billed Auk as one species, when other obstinate facts seem infallibly to 
keep them distinct. See Razor Bill. 
BLACKBONNET {Emheriza ^c;^o?mc^R5,LiNNiEUS.) — A name for 
the Reed Sparrow. 
BLACKCAP (^Sylvia atricapilla, Latham.) 
Motacilia atricapilla, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 332. 18. — Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 970. — Mota- 
cilla mosquita, Gmel. Syst. the female. — Atricapilla seu ficedula, Aldrov. 
Raii, Syst. p. 79. A. 8. — Will. p. 162. t. 41. — Sylvia atricapilla, Ind. 
Orn. 2. p. 508. 6. — La Fauvette a tete noire, Buff. 5. p. 125. t. 8. f. 1. — 
Becfin a tete noire, Temm. 1. p. 201. — Blackcap, Br. Zool. 1. No. 148. — lb. 
fol. 101. t. 8. f. 5. — Arct. Zool. 2. p. 418, F. — tFii/. (Angl.) p. 226. — Lath. 
Syn. 4. p. 415. 5. — Selby, p, 174. — Lewin, Br. Birds, 3. t. 116. — Wale. Syn. 
2. t. 22A.—Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 9. — Fleming, Br. Anim. p. 70. — Curruca 
atricapilla, Briss. 3. p. 380. 6. — Ib. 8vo. 1. p. 416. — Bewick, 1. 217. 
* It does not appear to me that the provincial names of Mock-night- 
ingale, Nettle-creeper, Nettle-monger, are ever applied to the Black- 
cap, but to the White-throat and the Fauvette. * 
This species of warbler weighs about four drams and a half : length 
nearly six inches. The bill is brown ; irides dark hazel. The upper 
part of the head in the male is black, the hind part of the neck cinereous 
brown ; back greyish brown with a tinge of green : the quill-feathers and 
tail dusky, edged with dull green ; breast and upper part of the belly 
light ash colour ; legs lead colour. 
The female, * mistaken by Gmehn for a distinct species, * is distin- 
guished from the other sex by the crown of the head, which is of a dull 
rust colour ; she is also superior in size. 
The Blackcap is a migrative species, visiting us early in the spring, 
and retiring in September ; it frequents woods and thick hedges, and 
seems particularly partial to orchards and gardens, where it delights us 
with its charming melodious song, which is very little inferior to that 
of the nightingale, except in variety of notes. *This, however, con- 
tinues only during the period of incubation, for this bird wastes no time 
in amusements, but appears in haste to accomplish the object of its visit, 
