The Blackcap

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨...

𝟕. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐩 - 𝐋𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐚̀ 𝐓𝐞̂𝐭𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑧 : 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑢 𝑟𝑒́𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒́𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖 𝑙𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑖 𝑙𝑎 𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑎̀ 𝑡𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑒. 𝐸𝑙𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑎𝑝𝑟𝑒̀𝑠 𝑙𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑙, 𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑖𝑠. 𝐶𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑒́𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑒́𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒. 𝐸𝑙𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑐 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑥. 𝐿𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑎 𝑡𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑒. 𝑆𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒́𝑛𝑒̀𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑎 𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑗𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑚œ𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠. 𝐿𝑒 𝑚𝑎̂𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒, 𝑎̀ 𝑏𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑡, 𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑢𝑥 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑢𝑟. 𝐼𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒̀𝑑𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑢̂𝑡𝑒́𝑒𝑠, 𝑞𝑢𝑖 𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑡 𝑠’𝑒𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑖̂𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑒́𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑠 𝑑’𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟. 𝐼𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑎̀ 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒́ 𝑑𝑢 𝑛𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑢̀ 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒, 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑑’𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒́. 𝐼𝑙 𝑛’𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑡 𝑠𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒, 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒́𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑎 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑎 𝑓𝑒́𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑒́𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑎̀ 𝑙’𝑒́𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑠 œ𝑢𝑓𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑒́𝑠 𝑎𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑥 𝑛𝑖𝑑 𝑑’𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟. 𝐶𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑢𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑑’𝑢𝑛 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒́ 𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑎̂𝑡𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑖.

EN version

Look: shaking off, on waking, the moist pearls of dew that stud her plumage, here is the Blackcap. After the Nightingale, she is the finest singer of our woods. This lively and graceful warbler is easy-going. She lives on the best of terms with all the other birds. The female has a russet-coloured head. Her relative, the Garden Warbler, has equally peaceful and inoffensive habits. The male is rightly regarded as a marvellous singer. He sings in long, flute-like phrases, which follow one another and are skilfully linked together without interruption, filling the surrounding echoes with delight. He perches close to the nest where his female is brooding, charming her with his notes through the long hours of immobility. He interrupts his happy song only to relieve his mate, delicately taking her place and concentrating the life-giving warmth necessary for the hatching of the eggs entrusted to the gentle nest of love. This warbler is a darkened olive-grey.

Dr. Alphonse Dubois, conservateur honoraire au Musée d’Histoire naturelle de Belgique from La Forêt de Soignes, edited by Stevens and Van der Swaelmen, 1920

Image by John Gerrard Kuelemans, 1873