SYLVIAD2E. 87 



brown. The female is not nearly so conspicuous, 

 the whole of the upper parts being hair-brown, 

 with a rather darker shade on the quills and 

 wing- coverts ; tail and tail-coverts like the male, 

 but not quite so bright; throat and all the under 

 parts dirty white, with a brown tinge on the 

 breast. 



In the young birds the feathers of the upper 

 parts are yellowish brown, narrowly edged with 

 dusky, the colours getting brighter towards the 

 tail- co verts, which, with the tail, are like the 

 adult; primary quills dusky; secondaries, tertials 

 and greater wing-coverts dusky, edged with rusty; 

 the under parts are lighter than the upper, but the 

 feathers are equally edged and tipped with dusky ; 

 beak, legs, toes and claws lighter than in the adult 

 male. 



The eggs are very much like those of the Hedge- 

 sparrow, both as to size and colour. 



BLACK EEDSTART, Phoenicura Tithys. The Black 

 or " Tithys Redstart," as it is often called, is a rare 

 bird in this county, but specimens do occasionally 

 occur in various parts. Yarrell mentions two as 

 having been killed near Bristol, one in the year 1830, 

 and another in the December of 1835. Another was 

 shot a few years ago in Galminton Lane, near Taun- 

 ton, and was very kindly presented to me by Mr. Mar- 

 shall, of Belmont, together with a female bird which 

 had been shot in one of the more northern counties ; 



12 



