ACCENTORIN^.. 



95 



THE ALPINE ACCENTOR. 



Accentor collaris (Scopoli). 



As might be expected, this mountain-loving species is only an 

 exceptional visitor to England. Its first recorded occurrence was at 

 Cambridge, where two of these birds were noticed climbing about 

 the buildings or feeding on the grass-plots in King's College, one of 

 them being shot on November 22nd 1822 ; previously, however, 

 an example had been obtained near Walthamstow, Essex, by Mr. 

 Pamplin, in August 18 17. Subsequently several birds have been 

 taken — or their occurrence recorded by competent observers : one 

 near Lowestoft, Suffolk ; one at Wells, Somerset ; four in South 

 Devon ; one near Cheltenham ; one near Scarborough ; two near 

 Lewes, Sussex ; and one on the Llanberis side of Snowdon, on 

 August 20th 1870. The last bird was exceedingly tame, hopping 

 about a small stone-enclosure, where I watched it as long as I could 

 without attracting attention. 



As a wanderer the Alpine Accentor has occurred in Heligoland, 

 Northern Germany, Belgium, and the north of France, especially 

 Normandy ; while along the cliffs of the Loire it is to be found with 

 tolerable regularity in autumn (Bureau). Its home is, however, in the 

 mountains of Savoy and the ranges which, under various names, 

 stretch from the Alps to the Carpathians inclusive ; the Apennines ; 

 Sicily ; Sardinia ; the Pyrenees and their Cantabrian continuation ; 

 the Guadarrama and other Spanish ranges down to the Sierra 

 Nevada ; Greece ; Asia Minor ; the Caucasus, and Northern Persia. 

 Eastward, the distribution of this bird can with difficulty be traced, 



