392 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
on the centre, the ends (which are of an ash-colour 
in winter) become rufous by degrees till the darker 
feathers with reddish margins pervade the whole of 
the back; the wing primaries are more decidedly 
black, the white-coloured portions more pure and 
conspicuous; the tail the same at all seasons; the 
breast white, barred across with rufous-brown and 
dark brown; the thighs and belly more sparingly 
barred with dark brown only; vent and under 
tail-coverts white; legs, toes and claws brownish 
biack,* 
The description of my own bird, killed in Feb- 
ruary, is as follows:—The beak is black at the tip 
and pale flesh (now faded to dull white) at the base ; 
from the beak to the eye ash-grey; over this and 
over the eye a broadish white patch, with a few ash- 
srey streaks on it; the head and back of the neck 
ash-brown ; back, scapulars, wing-coverts and tertials 
a darker ash-brown,—the shafts of all the feathers 
are black (some of these feathers are much worn 
and others appear nearly new, as if a partial moult 
was going on); some of the wing-coverts are mar- 
sined with dullish white, in others the margins are 
nearly worn off; the primary quills are black, with 
white shafts and a white mark at the base of those 
nearest the body; the tail-feathers are black at the 
points and white towards the base, the most white 
* Yarrell, vol. u., p. 686. 
