132 Mr. S. B. Wilsou's Notes 



Gemmi (7540 feet) and spent a week in the little hotel of 

 Schwarenbach, making observations on the Snow Finch, 

 Alpine Accentor, &c. From Schwarenbach and the Gemmi 

 I went to Kandersteg, where I observed the Wall Creeper 

 on the very same crags whence my friend Mr. John Hancock 

 obtained specimens in 1845. From Kandersteg I went to 

 Interlaken, Brienz, and up the Haslithal to Meiringen, in 

 the vicinity of which village the Crag Swallow and the Alpine 

 Swift breed. From Meiringen, on June 23rd, I started 

 with Anderegg for the Engstlen Alp (6100 feet), where we 

 stayed till the 28th, finding the Water Pipit {Anthus 

 spipoletta) very abundant. On July 2nd I returned to Inter- 

 laken, and thence to Berne, where I wished to see the Alpine 

 Swift which breeds regularly in the cathedral ; and thence 

 to Geneva: my trip in 1885 extending from June 10th 

 till July 4th. 



In the spring of 1886 I made another tour, on which I was 

 more successful, as must generally be the case when collecting 

 in a new country. Arriving at Lucerne on May 26th, some 

 three weeks earlier than the previous year, I went by rail 

 to Goschenen, intending to go up to the St. Gothard Hospice ; 

 but on account of the quantity and bad state of the snow I 

 was unable to do this, and was obliged to cross by the Furka 

 and the Grimsel to Meiringen — no easy matter, owing to 

 the snow. From Meiringen I again went to the Engstlen 

 Alp, where I arrived on June 3rd, and stayed till the 11th, 

 the rain pouring in torrents every day, which greatly hin- 

 dered us in collecting and observing. From Meiringen, on 

 the 15th, I returned to Lucerne over the Brlinig Pass, and 

 from Lucerne to Goschenen, as I wished to take the eggs of 

 the Snow Finch myself, having been too early when I first 

 crossed the Furka ; from the Furka down to Brieg, and after 

 a visit to the Simplon Hospice, I went, on June 19th, to 

 Leukerbad, to spend a few days there in my old quarters 

 before returning to England. Thus the two places at which 

 I was most successful, and at which I made the longest stay, 

 were the Engstlen Alp in the Canton of Berne and the 

 Gemmi in the Valais. 



