Sylvia atricapillarMeyer, British Birds, folio Ed., vol. i (coloured plate figuring adult male, female, and egg) [1835-43]; Macgillivray, British Birds, vol. ii, pp. 339-344, fig. 170 (woodcut of head), 1839; Yarrell, British Birds, 4th Ed., vol. i, edited by Newton, pp. 418-422 (woodcut), 1873; Dresser, Birds of Europe, vol. ii, pp. 421-427, pl. 66 (coloured figures of adult male and female), 1875; Seebohm, British Birds, vol. i, pp. 394-399, pl. 10, fig. 3 (egg), 1883; Lilford, Coloured Figures, vol. iii, p. 56, pl. 28 (coloured figures of adult male and female), 1885; Saunders, Manual of British Birds, 2nd Ed., pp. 47-48 (woodcut), 1897.
Curruca atricapilla, Hewitson, British Oology, 1st Ed., vol. i, pl. 42, fig. (egg) [1836]; Gould, Birds of Great Britain, vol. ii, 2 pp, pl. 60 (coloured figures of adult male and female), 1865; Booth, Rough Notes, vol. ii, pp. 49-50, 1884.
Curruca atracapilla, Hewitson, Eggs of British Birds, 2nd Ed., vol. i, pp. 93-94, pl. 27, figs. 1 and 2 (eggs), 1846.
Sylvia atracapilla, Hewitson, Eggs of British Birds, 3rd Ed., vol. i, pp. 126-27, pl. 34, figs. 1 and 2 (eggs), 1856.
Adult Male in Spring.—The crown is pure black with a slight bluish gloss; The hind neck and the sides of the head are pure ashy grey, and the mantle and rump the same colour, but distinctly washed with olive. The upper parts of the wings and tail are olive grey; the large feathers being edged with a lighter tint of the same colour, and the shaft of both wing and tail-feathers reddish brown. The throat, chest, and flanks are ashy grey, but the colour on the flanks is rather lighter and washed with olive buff. The abdomen is white, and the under tail-coverts whitish grey with ashy grey
