SYLVIADiE. 
120 
INSESSORES. s YL VIA DAE. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
BLACKCAP. 
Sylvia atracapilla. 
PLATE XXXIV. FIGS. I. AND II. 
The Blackcap builds its nest about the end of May, 
or beginning of June, in close and tangled thickets, in 
thorns, amongst brambles, and every species of low thick 
brushwood. In our gardens and pleasure-grounds it may 
be found in evergreens, and other thickly-leaved shrubs. 
It is formed outwardly of umbelliferous plants, twisted 
together with spiders’ webs, bits of thread, and wool, 
becoming finer towards the inside, and mixed with the 
stalks and flowering heads of grasses, together with very 
fine roots, and a few hairs. 
Though very slight and pervious, and apparently with¬ 
out the comfort of the thick, mossy, snug-looking nests 
of other birds, it is strong and compact, and in this 
alone differs from the nest of the garden warbler, which 
is more loosely put together, and in some instances formed 
of a larger quantity of materials. 
The eggs of the Blackcap are four or five in number, 
and vary considerably, both in colour and in shape, being 
sometimes a good deal longer than either of the figures 
in the plate, sometimes almost round. The first of these 
figures represents the colouring which is most common ; 
the second, a beautiful variety, which is not infrequent. 
There are many specimens smaller and lighter in colour 
than either of those drawn, and resembling the egg 
