540 BIKDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



the back is black, regularly spotted with white ; the 

 scapulars the same, but the spots much larger ; wing- 

 coverts the same, but the white spots smaller than 

 on the back ; rump and tail-coverts black, with very 

 small white spots, more on the tail-coverts than on 

 the rump; the tail-feathers are very short, black, 

 with a few small white spots towards the tip; the 

 quills are black ; the sides of the breast immediately 

 beneath the black part of the neck and towards the 

 point of the wing are distinctly streaked with black 

 and white, like the patches on the neck; just at the 

 point of the wing in the flank the streaks cease and 

 the feathers are black, with small white spots ; breast 

 and all the under parts pure white; back of the 

 thighs to the tail-coverts black, with small white 

 spots ; the legs, toes and webs are very dark, nearly 

 black, on the outside. This is the description of the 

 bird previously mentioned as having been killed at 

 Exmouth on the 30th of May (ante, p. 535), and 

 which was sent to me in the flesh and is now in my 

 collection : as before stated, I have never seen a bird 

 in this plumage in the winter, though I saw and 

 chased one in equally good plumage a fortnight 

 earlier in the month on the 14th of May. The bird 

 I am now about to describe is one of the nearest 

 I have ever seen to full plumage in the winter : it 

 was killed at Exmouth on the 9th of December, and 

 sent to me in the flesh the next day : it is in a state 

 of change, and is either a young bird just assuming 



