130 
BLACK-CAP. 
any of our other warblers, the last excepted, and 
when in full song, it is a delightful addition to 
our summer songsters. As with all the others, it 
is the voice of the male, previous to pairing, or 
holding converse with the female during the time 
of incubation, in which he also partially assists. 
When this is completed, the song becomes 
broken, the melody gradually ceases, and we 
hear only the usual call notes. Either are easily 
interrupted; and a slight noise, or the intrusion 
of a stranger, will induce silence, and the bird 
will remove itself gradually and quietly to the 
closer parts of the thicket, or having gained the 
edge of a more limited shrubbery, it will silently 
flit to some more extensive and secure retreat. 
The nest, where we have seen it, has never been 
placed far from the ground, generally in some 
bush, and is composed of dried fibres of roots, or 
slender twigs, lined with the finer grasses and a 
few hairs. Mr Selby states, that he has some- 
times found it among brambles and nettles, formed 
with the dry stalks of galium aparine. The Black- 
Cap is a more abundant species every where 
than the Nightingale, and is more equally distri- 
buted in England. In Scotland, it extends far 
north, but is somewhat local, and in our own 
vicinity has only appeared within these few years, 
which may be perhaps owing to the gradual 
increase of more extensive shrubbery and planta- 
tions giving it suitable food and retirement. In 
Ireland it appears more rare, and has only been 
recorded once by Mr Thompson. On the Con- 
