96 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
summer, the plumage is as follows :—Forehead and 
a streak over the eyes white; head, neck, back and 
scapulars greyish blue; rump and tail-coverts white ; 
from the base of the upper mandible is a black 
streak which surrounds the eye, broadest beneath, 
and includes the ear-coverts; wing-coverts and all 
the quills black; tail-feathers white to within about 
half an inch of the tips, which are black; the two 
central feathers are black nearly to the base, which 
is white; throat, breast, and all the under parts 
buff, hghtest on the belly. 
The female is nearly the same as the male, but 
the colouring not quite so distinct; legs, toes and 
claws black. After the autumnal moult the whole of 
the upper parts are of a yellowish brown; the wing- 
coverts and tertials are margined with rusty: as far 
as outward appearance goes there is not a vestige of 
the greyish blue of the spring. I have in my col- 
lection one killed here on its first arrival in the 
spring, in which specimen a few of the greyish blue 
feathers of the back and scapulars have some slight 
remains of autumnal yellowish brown margins. 
The egg of the Wheatear is a light blue—in some 
specimens quite plain, and in some slightly speckled 
with rusty: it is rather larger than the egg of either 
of the two last species. 
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER, Salicaria locustella. The 
Grasshopper Warbler is probably rather more com- 
mon than is usually supposed, its sombre colours 
