BLACKCAP WARBLER . — Sylvia atricapilla. 
With the exception of the nightingale, the Blackcap Warbler is the sweetest 
and richest toned of all the British song-birds, and in many points the voice of the 
Blackcap is even superior. 
The Blackcap derives its name from the tuft of dark feathers which crown the 
head, and which in the males are coal black, but in the female a deep reddish-brown. 
While singing, the Blackcap chooses some spot where it can conceal itself if 
alarmed, and there pour forth its melodious notes in security. Sometimes he will 
sing while perched upon an open branch, but he is very jealous of spectators, 
and if he fancies himself visible, immediately drops among the foliage and is 
lost to sight. The song of this bird is well described by Mr. Mudie in the 
following words : — 
“ Its song is generally given from a high perch or an elevated branch, on the 
top twig if the tree be not very lofty. While it sings, the axis of the body is 
very oblique by the elevation of the head, and the throat is much inflated. 
While the bird is trilling, in which it excels every songster of. the grove in 
rapidity and clearness, and in the swells and cadences which it gives to the 
same trill, the throat has a very convulsive motion, and the whole bird appears to 
be worked into a high state of excitement.” 
The nest of the Blackcap is generally placed only a foot or so above the 
ground, within the shelter of a dense bush or tuft of rank herbage, and is 
composed of vegetable fibres and hairs rather loosely put together. The eggs 
are four or five in number, and are of a pale reddish-brown dappled with a 
deeper hue of brown. The general colour of the Blackcap is grey, with a wash 
of dark green upon the upper surface and ashen grey upon the lower surface* 
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