BLACKCAP. 97 
a lining, and the outer parts cemented together with spiders’ 
webs and wool. It is strong and tolerably compact, though 
slight. Anything like meddling with it, or intruding upon 
it, is jealously watched, and the smallest disturbance causes 
the nest to be forsaken. Several in fact are frequently 
abandoned, either from apprehension or caprice, before they 
have been finished. Alfred Newton, Esq., of Elveden Hall, 
near Thetford, mentions in the ‘Zoologist,’ page 1024, his 
having known a nest to be found there on the 11th. of 
March, 1845, which contained an ege at that early date. 
The eggs, usually four or five in number, are of a pale 
greenish white colour, mottled with lght brown and grey, 
with a few spots and streaks of dark brown. ‘They vary a 
good deal both in size and shape. 
Frederick Stafford, Esq., of De Warren House, Northfleet, 
Kent, has informed me of his having obtained from the county 
of Norfolk, four eggs of this species of a beautiful salmon- 
colour, in no way the effect of incubation, as only one egg 
had been deposited when the nest was first discovered. This 
pink variety is not very unfrequent. J. A. Drake, Esq. has 
also forwarded me a good variety. 
Both birds sit on the eggs, but the female naturally the 
most. The male frequently sings while so engaged. The 
female, when sitting, 1s occasionally fed by her partner. ‘The 
young are said to leave the nest rather soon, roosting with 
their parents on the adjoining boughs. 
Male; weight, about four drachms and a half; length, five 
inches and three quarters to six inches and a trifle over; bill, 
dark horn-colour, paler beneath, the edges yellowish grey; the 
inside of the mouth bluish grey; iris, dark brown. Head on 
the crown, black; its sides, the neck on the back, and nape, 
ash-coloured; chin, throat, and breast, ash-coloured, the latter 
white on the lower part, tinged with yellowish grey. Back, 
brownish ash-colour. 
The wings, which extend to nine inches and about a quarter, 
have the first quill feather very short, the second longer than 
the sixth, but shorter than the fifth, the third the longest; 
primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, greyish brown, their 
outer edges pale yellowish brown; underneath they are grey; 
greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. Tail underneath,, 
grey; legs and toes, lead-coloured, the latter tinged with green 
beneath; claws, brown. 
The female resembles the male, but her plumage is more 
VOL. IY. H 
