THE BLACKCAP.—OYSTERS. 
403 
As the summer advances it eats caterpillars as I 
have found by opening them in June, and I believe 
it feeds now on a variety of insects also ; after that 
it betakes itself with a rapacious appetite to ripe 
fruits, and continues on this diet till the time of its 
departure. This bird seems to pair very soon after 
its arrival in this country ; they build so far as I 
have seen, on low trees or shrubs, and frequently 
near houses, but they are however very suspicious 
of intruders, the female will, if she fancy her brood 
in danger from the approach of any one, feign herself 
lame and disabled, hobbling before him and uttering 
notes of distress. Blackcaps are tolerably common, 
but they are detected for the most part through an • 
acquaintance with their song, for they secrete 
themselves in trees, and are difficultly seen. They 
keep to the neighbourhood of man, and frequent 
yearly the same trees, never quitting the locality 
to which they have annually resorted except when 
they wing their way to the continental states, or 
wherever their resort may be upon the failure of our 
supplies of food. During the first part of its stay 
with us it does not frequently pour forth a con¬ 
tinued or very powerful song, seeming to be too 
deeply engaged in search of food, but about mid¬ 
summer we hear a more protracted and impressive 
strain. But with its best efforts this bird as found 
in my neighbourhood fails to give me the idea which 
White and other authors entertain concerning its 
song, and I am reluctantly led to infer that as the 
Nightingale is known to differ in vocal powers in 
different districts, so does the Blackcap, and that 
here, circumstances do not suit its constitution to 
this end. 
Oysters .—There was one effect of the severe 
weather of 1838 deserving notice. It was found 
that a very large number of Oysters had perished 
at the period of the great cold in January, and this 
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