BLACKCAP, BLACKCAP WARBLER, or BLACKCAP FAUVETTJ (earruca atricapilla), bird of the great family of the sylriadcs, or warblers, and of the same genus to which the nightingale is commonly referred. Sec FauvErrm, WAnnmot, and SYLVIAD.E. It is regarded as the sweetest song-bird in Britain, or indeed in Europe, except the nightin gale, to which it is said to be even superior in " its shake or trilling note." Very often, however, the strain is desultory, and of short continuance; but it is loud, rich in tone, and has a "great variety of sweet and gentle modulations." White says, in his _Natural History of Selborne, that while the B. warbles, its throat is wonderfully distended. It is a rather smaller bird than the nightingale; the female is larger than the male. The back, wings, and tail are of an ash-brown color; the chin, throat, and breast are gray; the belly, white. The upper part of the head in the male is jet-black; in the female of a dull rust color. The feathers of the head, both in the male and female, are somewhat erected,
giving the bird a hooded appearance, on account of which it is called in Germany as ni-one.. In Britain, the B. is a bird of passage, arriving early in spring, and retiring in Sept. The males, as in the case of the nightingale, arrive a few days before the females. The B. is not a common bird in Britain: it is most frequent in the south ern counties of England, but is found even in Scotland; on the continent, it extends its migrations as far n. as Lapland. In the s. of Europe, it is found both in summer and winter. As a cage-bird, it is pleasing not only ou account of its song—which, however, is sometimes partly spoiled by its too successful imitation of other birds—but also on account of its manners, the intelligence which it displays, and its strong attachment to those who are accustomed to feed and caress it.