270 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
be seen mobbing the Cuckoo, much in the same 
manner as they do a Hawk. The beak of the adult 
Cuckoo is a dark bluish horn, except just at the base, 
which is pale brown; the irides are yellow; the 
head and the whole of the upper parts are uniform 
bluish slate-colour; the tail and quill-feathers are 
a shade darker; the tail-feathers are tipped with 
white and have also a few small spots of the same 
colour close to the shaft, each side of it, all the 
way up; the throat and breast are the same colour 
as the upper parts, but a very slightly lighter shade ; 
flanks, belly and all the rest of the under parts are 
white, barred with bluish slate; the under surface of 
the wing is white, very broadly barred with black ; 
legs and toes yellow, claws yellowish brown. The 
young bird of the year before its departure is very 
different: the beak is not so dark; the irides are 
brown; there is a white patch on the forehead and 
on the back of the head; the rest of the feathers of 
the head and neck are darkish slate, tipped and 
edged with dull white and pale brown; the back, 
scapulars, rump and tail-coverts are the same; the 
wing-coverts the same, but mottled with reddish 
brown; the quills are dusky, barred with white and 
reddish brown, and the outer web of the tertials is 
also mottled with reddish brown; the tail is dusky, 
very distinctly barred and mottled with brown and 
white; the throat is bluish slate, mottled with white ; 
the rest of the under parts as in the old bird. Ata 
