Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
Original title: Toutinegra (Sylvia atricapilla)
The blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), a common songbird in Madeira often kept in cages for its song. The entry describes the hooded form (toutinegra de capelo), once treated as a separate species and now regarded as melanism, and its nesting habits.
A bird of the thrush family (Turdidae), common in Madeira and often kept in cages for the beauty of its song.
The black colouring that normally covers the male’s head sometimes extends below the nape. Individuals showing this feature are called toutinegras de capelo (‘hooded blackcaps’), a trait that modern ornithologists regard as a case of melanism.
The hooded blackcap was formerly considered a distinct species (Carruca Heinekeni).
The blackcap builds a nest of interwoven roots in trees, in which it lays up to five eggs, whose colour varies in both the ground and the markings.