THE BLACKCAP. 
51 
belief of its change into a different bird is akin to the notion prevalent among many 
rustics at present that the cuckoo turns into a hawk. 
The other birds belonging to the same family which visit our shores are the 
Orphean Warbler and the Rufous Warbler. Two specimens only of each of these, 
however, have been procured in the British Isles. The Garden Warbler (Sylvia hor- 
tensis ), the Whitethroat ( 5 . cinerea), and the Lesser Whitethroat (. S . sylviella) are 
common enough to merit a short description. They are all, like the Blackcap, 
immigrants here in early spring. The first, the Garden Warbler, is greyish-brown, 
slightly tinged with olive in the upper plumage; there is a patch of ash-grey below 
the ear, and the under plumage is dull white. Its nest, eggs, and song are so like 
those of the Blackcap that it is difficult to discriminate between them. Thus 
Mr. Johns says that the Blackcap possibly obtains credit for some of the sweet 
strains of the Garden Warbler, especially in late summer. It frequently sings after 
sunset, and Montagu describes its song as containing some notes “which are 
sweetly and softly drawn, others quick, lively, loud, and piercing, reaching the 
distant ear with piercing harmony, something like the whistle of the blackbird, but 
in a more hurried cadence. Selby remarks that it is not till the elm and oak are 
bursting into leaf that it is generally seen. Its food is similar to that of the 
Blackcap, and it is very fond of the caterpillar of the common cabbage butterfly, 
being the only warbler which will touch this destructive creature. It occurs 
generally throughout England, and appears to reach Banffshire in Scotland ; in 
Ireland it is extremely rare. Through most of Europe it is found, and it breeds 
high up in Norway. 
The Whitethroat, or Greater Whitethroat, is found in most parts of the Con¬ 
tinent, and is a regular summer visitant here, arriving about the third week in April. 
Its upper plumage is ash and grey, strongly tinged with rust-colour, the wings are 
blackish, and breast and under plumage white, tinged with rose-colour. The length 
of the bird is five and a half inches. It is, perhaps, the most common of the 
migratory warblers, and is generally diffused, but scarce in the north of Scotland. 
It is fond of the low part of hedges and their outside growth, hopping and flitting 
about with an incessant babbling chatter made up of many rapid short notes. Thus 
it gains its French name of “ babil/arde." The same people call it, too, “grisette,” 
from its grey feathers, and in some of our rural districts it is known as “ nettle- 
creeper,” from its habit of exploring the outer growth of hedgerows. Here, too, its 
nest is most frequently found, raised some two or three feet above the grass, in 
brambles or furze-bushes, constructed of bents and dry stems of herbs. Of the latter 
