S. atricapilla, Lath. Tem. Motacilla atricapilla, Lin. &c. The fem. Motacilla mosquita, Gnicl. Black-cap, or Black-cap Warbler, Prov. Nettle Creeper, .Vettle Mon ger, or Mock .Vightingale. Testaceous above, ash-colour ed beneath; top of the head obscure. Length five inches five lines; alar extent eight inches and a half; weight about four drachms. In the male the upper part of the head is black ; the hind part of the neck cinereous brown ; the back greyish-brown, with a tint of green ; the quill feathers and tail are dusky, edged with dull green ; the breast and upper part of the belly light ash colour ; and the legs plumbeous. The female is somewhat superior in size, and has the crown of the bead of a dull rust colour. A variety has been found in Sardinia, with a red band over the eyes; another with a rufous crown; another with the whole plumage marked with black and white; and another still with the upper parts deep dusky, the throat white, and the sides grey.
This species, which is migratory, is common in Italy, France, Germany, &c. and even in Sweden, but is much more rare in Britain. The males arrive in the first days of April, but the females not till the middle of that month. If, at that early season, a return of cold should deprive them of their insect food, they have recourse to the berries of spurge-laurel, ivy, privet, and hawthorn, which are also the resource of the few which arc precluded, by a tardy hatch, or other accidental cause, from undertaking their stated migration southward. Immediately on the arrival of the females, these birds are busied in preparing their nests, the males selecting the most suitable spots, and, when they have fixed on them, intimating their choice by more tender and attractive strains than usual. The favourite situations are in eglantine or hawthorn bushes, at the height of two or three feet from the ground, on the border tracks of forests, or in woods or hedges. The nest is small and shallow, usually made of dried stalks, grass, and wool, lined with fibrous roots and horses' hair. That described by Mr. Pennant was placed in a spruce-fir, about two feet from the ground ; the inside was composed of dried stalks of the goose grass, with a little wool, and green moss round the verge, and the lining consisted of fibrous roots, thinly covered with horses' hair. It contain ed five eggs, of a pale reddish brown, mottled with a deeper colour, and sprinkled with a few dark spots. The male manifests the most tender assiduity to his mate, takes his turn of sitting on the eggs, from ten o'clock in the morning till four or five in the evening, and caters worms and insects for The young are produced with out any down, but are covered with feathers in a few days, and very soon quit the nest, especially if molested. They then follow their parents, hopping from spray to spray, and the whole family assemble on one branch to pass the evening, the male at oneend, the female at another, and the young in the middle, all huddled together, as close as possible, for toe sake of warmth, and exhibiting a scene truly domestic. To the first brood a second, especially in
warm climates, usually succeeds, and sometimes even a third, if any accident has befallen the second. The black cap sings sweetly, and so much in the style of the nightingale, that in Norfolk it is called the Mock Xightin gale. Its airs are light, and executed with apparent ease, consisting of a succession of modulations harmoniously blended, especially when the bird sits calmly, and pro longs its song; for frequently its notes arc desultory, and the strain of short continuance. In confinement, it soon becomes attached to its keeper, greets him with a peculiar accent, and flutters against the cage-wires to get in contact with hint. From the warmth of its affections, Mademoi selle Des Cartes could not help remarking, that, with all deference to her uncle, it was endowed with sentiment.
S. hortensis, Lath. Bech. Tern. Motacilla hortensis, Lin. &c. Petty Chaps, Greater Petty Chaps, or Garden Warbler. Grey-brown above, reddish-white beneath ; quill feathers grey-brown, edged with grey ; tail feathers fuscous, and the outer whitish on the exterior web, and towards the tip, within. Base of the under mandible yel lowish, irides hazel, orbits white, legs bluish-brown. Length six inches; alar extent eight inches ten lines ; weight about five drachms. Another European migrant, which arrives in this island about the end of April, or the beginning of May, and leaves us in autumn, for the islands of the Archipelago, Lower Egypt, &c. Though its prin cipal food is insects, it likewise contrives to subsist on soft berries and fruits. It frequents gardens and orchards, and generally takes up its abode in thick hedges, in which, or among the sticks of peas, and near the ground, it prefera bly places its nest, composing it of dried goose grass, and other fibrous plants, flimsily put together, with the occa sional addition of a little green moss externally. It lays from four to six eggs, about the size of those of the hedge sparrow, of a dirty white, blotched with light-brown, and spots of cinereous. The late Sir Ashton Lever first re cognized it as a native of England, in Lancashire ; but it has since been noticed in Wiltshire, Devonshire, Somer sctshire, Sr.c. Its song is reckoned little inferior to that of the nightingale, some of the notes being sweetly and softly drawn, others quick, lively, loud, and piercing, reaching the distant ear with pleasing harmony, somewhat resembling the whistle of the blackbird, but in a more hur ried cadence, and frequently uttered after sunset. :qr. Pennant erroneously makes the present article synonymous with Beambird, which is one of the popular denominations of the Spotted Ely-catcher, and he adds to the confusion by quoting Motacilla hippo/a/a, Lin. which is the Lesser petty-chaps.