This is one of the most delightful and pleasing birds that can be
imagined. If kept in a large cage with other birds it is so full of
antics, in flying and frisking about, and erecting its crest, generally
singing all the time, certainly nothing can be more amusing. It is also
quite as hardy as the blackcap, and if a good one be procured, it is
little inferior in song: but in this they vary considerably, the wild
ones as well as those in a cage. I have now one in my possession that I
have had about eleven years, in as good health, and singing as well as
ever; and certainly no song need be louder, sweeter, or more varied. It
is of the same temper as a nightingale, never suffering itself to be
outdone. It will indeed sing for hours together against a nightingale,
now in the beginning of January, and it will not suffer itself to be
outdone; when the nightingale raises its voice, it also does the same,
and tries its utmost to get above it; sometimes in the midst of its song
it will run up to the nightingale, and stretch out its neck as if in
defiance, and whistle as loud as it can, staring it in the face; if the
nightingale attempts to peck it, away it is in an instant flying round
the aviary, and singing all the time.
In a wild state, the present species is generally to be found in hedges
and gardens, and is the most common of our British warblers, visiting us
the beginning or middle of April, and leaving us towards the end of
September; sometimes a solitary one may be seen in October, but not
frequently. It is particularly fond of flies, or a rose-branch covered
with aphides will please it very much.