RALLID^E. 437 



and sides of the neck white, with a slight tin ge o 

 buff on the fore part; sides of the breast grey; 

 breast, belly and under tail-coverts white; flanks 

 white, with a few longish grey marks ; the legs and 

 toes are yellowish brown. As the winter draws on 

 the dark feathers on the upper parts and the slight 

 buff tinge on the white of the lower parts disappear 

 and are replaced by the grey above and the white 

 below. I believe the autumnal change is by moult, 

 and the spring change by a different secretion of 

 the colouring matter. 



The eggs are of " a stone colour, tinged with olive, 

 spotted and speckled with dark brown."* Meyer, 

 in his coloured plate, makes the ground colour a 

 decided olive-green. 



This is the last of the Scolopacidae which I have 

 been able to include ; others may possibly have 

 occurred in our county, but the occurrence has not 

 come under my notice, nor has it, as far as I am 

 aware, been recorded. 



Family RALLID^E. 



The Rallidse, the last family but one amongst the 

 large Order of Waders, is a very small one, con- 

 taining only six British species, five of which may 

 be included in this list of Somersetshire birds. It 



* Yarrell, vol. iii., p. 99. 



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