BLACK-CAP, in ornithology, a species of MOTACILLA, under which article it was omitted to be described. It is a small bird, scarce weighing half an ounce. The crown of the head in the male is black: the hind part of the neck a light ash-colour: the back and coverts of the wings are of a greyish green: the quill-feathers and tail dusky, edged with dull green: the breast and upper part of the belly are of a pale ash-colour: the vent feathers whitish: the legs of a lead colour. The female is distinguished from the male by the spot on the head, which in that is of a dull rust-colour. The black-cap is a bird of passage, leaving us before winter. It sings very finely; and on that account is called in Norfolk the mock-nightingale.
gale. It has usually a full, sweet, deep, loud wild pipe; yet the strain is of short continuance, and his motions are desultory: but when that bird sits calmly, and in earnest engages in song, he pours forth very sweet but inward melody; and expresses great variety of sweet and gentle modulations, superior perhaps to those of any of our warblers, the nightingale excepted.
The black-cap frequents orchards and gardens. Mr Pennant discovered the nest of this bird in a spruce fir, about two feet from the ground; the outside was composed of the dried stalks of the goose grass; with a little wool and green moss round the verge; the inside was lined with the fibres of roots, thinly covered with black horse hair. There were five eggs of a pale reddish brown, mottled with a deeper colour, and sprinkled with a few dark spots.