94 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE, 



the lower mandible under the black, which it nearly 

 surrounds ; the back and scapulars are black, each 

 feather broadly margined with pale yellowish rusty ; 

 tail-coverts rusty, with a black spot near the tip of 

 each feather, tips themselves nearly white; wing- 

 coverts black, with a slight margin of rusty; the 

 feathers of both the greater and lesser wing-coverts 

 nearest the body white, making a conspicuous patch 

 of white in that part of the wing; bastard wing 

 white ; quills and tail dark dusky, almost black, with 

 ft slight margin (broadest on the tertials) of yellowish 

 rusty; throat, breast and flanks bright yellowish 

 rufous; belly and under tail-coverts nearly white; 

 lefft, iocs and claws black. 



In the female the colours are not quite so bright ; 

 the white on the bastard wing is not so conspic- 

 uous, being mixed with yellowish rusty; and the 

 throat, breast and flanks are not so rufous, and have 

 more of the yellow in them. 



The eggs are bright greenish blue, more or lew 

 speckled with rusty : they are slightly larger than 

 those of the last species. 



WHEATEAR, Saxicola (Enanthe. Except perhaps 

 the Chiffchaff, the Wheatear is the earliest of our 

 summer visitants, arriving in this country in March, 

 occasionally quite early in the month : it is a toler- 

 ably numerous species throughout the length of our 

 coast, and on the Mendip Hills : on the Quantocks 

 it is confined to the western slope towards the sea, 



