292 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
irides are black; the head, neck, back and tail-coverts 
are mostly grey, minutely freckled and pencilled with 
dark brown, of which colour there are many long 
streaks, especially one on the middle of the head; 
the scapulars and wing-coverts are a rich dark brown, 
marked and freckled with yellowish brown and grey ; 
primary and secondary quills darkish brown, irregu- 
larly barred and spotted with rich orange-brown, and 
freckled with grey, more especially towards the tips ; 
the tertials are almost wholly grey, freckled with dark 
brown; the two centre feathers of the tail are grey, 
tolerably regularly barred with dark brown, the grey 
parts being much freckled with the same colour; the 
outer feathers are more lke the primary quills in 
- colour and marking; the throat is dark brown and 
orange-brown mixed,—there is a hght, almost white, 
spot on each side of it; the belly and the rest of the 
under parts are greyish brown, thickly and rather 
reoularly barred with dark brown. The male bird is 
easily distinguished from the female, as it has a 
patch of white on the inner web of each of the three 
first primaries, and the two outer feathers of the tail 
have broad white ends. The legs, which are very 
short and much feathered, are orange-brown on the 
bare parts; the toes and claws are the same colour, 
the centre toe being much the longest, and having 
the inner edge of the claw much notched like a saw. 
The young birds of the year are much like the old 
ones. 
