92 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
margined with rufous as scarcely to show any of the 
black which is so conspicuous in the spring, and 
which becomes more visible as the margins wear 
off, until about April or May the margins are 
almost or quite gone, and the head and neck 
become (as before described) black; the margins 
also on the feathers of the back wing-coverts and 
quills are almost sufficiently broad to conceal the 
dark colour of the rest of the feathers; the tail- 
feathers are also at this time margined with a 
lighter rufous than that of the back. 
The plumage of the female differs considerably 
from that of the male: the feathers of the head, 
neck, back and scapulars are dusky, margined at all 
times with rusty brown; the rump and tail-coverts 
are more rufous; the wing-coverts, except those of 
the tertials (which are white, as in the male), are 
dark dusky, almost black, margined with rusty 
brown; tertials the same; secondary and primary 
quills and tail brown, very slightly margined with 
light rusty; cheeks and ear-coverts brown; throat 
dirty white, slightly spotted with black; breast and 
all the rest of the under parts light rufous. The 
young birds, after their first moult, resemble the 
female. 
The egg is of a greenish blue ground, very 
thickly spotted with dull rust-coloured spots, mostly 
at the thick end: in size it is rather smaller than 
that of the Hedgesparrow. 
