74 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



of most of the side feathers of the tail, which are also 

 yellow ; the quill-feathers are narrowly bordered with 

 white ; the two middle feathers of the tail are black ; 

 a black line passes from the base of the beak to the 

 eye ; the iris is carmine-red ; the beak bright reddish 

 brown ; the legs and feet are ash-colour. The female 

 is olive-green on all the upper parts of the body ; the 

 under parts greyish white ; the shafts of the feathers 

 dusky ; flanks yellowish, streaked with brown ; the 

 tail-feathers are dark olive, those on the sides tipped 

 .with yellow ; the wings and wing-coverts brown ; the 

 beak browner than in the male. The young birds 

 resemble the female, with the addition of dark shafts 

 to the feathers of the upper plumage ; the iris and 

 beak are dusky." 



The eggs are about one inch two lines long, and 

 ten lines in breadth; of a white colour, slightly tinged 

 with purple, with a few distinct spots of ash-grey and 

 claret- colour. 



Family SYLVIAD^E. 



To the Sylviadse belong almost the whole of our 

 migratory summer warblers : arriving in great num- 

 bers, mostly in the months of April and May, they 

 enliven with their song our gardens and hedge-rows 

 till late in the summer, when their broods are 

 hatched, after which their song usually ceases. In 

 the autumn, mostly in the months of September and 

 October, they again take their departure. This large 



