386 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



is dark brown towards the point, pale yellow- brown 

 at the base ; the space from the beak to the eye is 

 dark, over this and over the eye is a white mark ; 

 the head, nape, back and all the upper parts are 

 olive-brown, glossed with sap-green there is a 

 dusky line down the shaft of each feather, and 

 many of the feathers (especially the tertials and 

 greater wing- coverts) have irregular transverse dusky 

 markings on them ; the primary quills are dusky, 

 with a white mark on the inner web of all but the 

 first; the secondaries are white at the base, and 

 those nearest the body are also tipped with white ; 

 the feathers of the bastard wing are dusky, tipped 

 and partially margined on the outer web with 

 white ; the central tail-feathers are the same as the 

 rest of the upper parts, but more marked with zig- 

 zag dusky markings ; the exterior feathers are tipped 

 and barred with white; the chin and throat are 

 white; the sides of the neck and breast palish 

 dusky, streaked on the centre of each feather with a 

 darker shade ; the rest of the under parts are pure 

 white, except a slight tinge of dusky about the out- 

 side of the thighs. The legs and toes are ash-green ; 

 the claws brown. The young birds of the year 

 are much more mottled in their appearance, all 

 the feathers of the upper parts being margined 

 and tipped with bars of yellowish brown and 

 dusky. 



The eggs are pear-shaped and large for the size 



