52 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



I know, calls them all " Whitethroats," and says he 

 can keep nothing for them. 



The Spotted Flycatcher is so well known that a 

 very slight description will be sufficient. The beak 

 is darkish horn ; eyes hazel ; head streaked dark 

 greyish brown and white ; all the rest of the upper 

 parts light greyish brown ; the greater wing- coverts 

 and tertials are a rather darker shade, narrowly 

 edged with lighter; primary and secondary quills 

 and tail the same darker shade ; throat and breast 

 white, streaked with the same colour as the back ; 

 rest of the under parts white ; legs, toes and claws 

 black. 



The Spotted Flycatcher probably derives its name 

 of " spotted" from the young birds, which are really 

 spotted, each feather on the upper parts having a 

 buff-coloured tip ; and the ends of the greater wing- 

 coverts form a wood-brown bar across the wing. 



The ground colour of the egg of the Spotted Fly- 

 catcher is a sort of dull green ; it is, however, so 

 much smeared and speckled with dull brick-dust 

 red that the ground colour can scarcely be seen. 

 These eggs vary a good deal, both in marking and 

 shape : in some eggs I took from one nest the 

 ground is a light green, with only a few smears of 

 very light brick-dust ; one was without any smears 

 at all : the eggs in that nest varied much from 

 the usual shape, being nearly round instead of 

 oblong. 



