136 Mr. S. B. "Wilson's Notes 



never observed a bird with any material for a nest in its 

 bill. My guide ultimately shot one, which proved, on dis- 

 section, to be a male. The following June, on the Furka 

 Pass, we observed an Alpine Accentor collecting materials 

 for its nest ; it was a very misty day, with occasional storms 

 of sleet. We never saw Alpine birds so close to us ; Water 

 Pipits, Alpine Accentors, Wheatears, Black Redstarts, often 

 came within a few yards of us when the mist was very thick, 

 and a Kestrel hovered for some minutes not more than ten 

 yards straight above our heads. The " Alpenlerch '' would 

 come to a large rock, the top of which was covered with moss, 

 close to the roadside and to where we were sitting, and creep 

 about in just the same sly way that our Hedge Accentor 

 does, collecting bits of moss, and would then fly off, soon 

 returning for more ; we did not search for the nest, as we 

 did not wish to disturb the bird whilst building. 



On the 1st June, 1886, we had a nest with four eggs of 

 the Alpine Accentor brought to us at Meiringen by a 

 botanical collector, whom we questioned about it, and he 

 described the species to us, having seen one of the birds quite 

 close. The nest, which he found on the Hasliberg whilst 

 searching for plants, was placed in a crevice, which was a 

 very difficult place to get at. It is round, somewhat shallow, 

 and fairly compact ; composed mainly of dry grass-stems and 

 very small pieces of moss, the inside being lined entirely with 

 the same species of moss, still wonderfully green, and five 

 small white feathers of the Ptarmigan. On the 8th July I 

 obtained a young bird of the year on the Gemmi, which 

 agrees Avith the description of one given by Mr. Dresser in 

 his ' Birds of Europe ' from the collection of Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, obtained on the Sierra Nevada, Spain, in August. 

 The white patch on the throat is entirely absent, and the 

 unaerparts are of a very dusky yellow-brown, and much 

 spotted, as in the young Hedge Accentor. 



Of the eight adult specimens obtained, only one was a 

 female, which differed in no way in plumage from the male. 

 In autumn we saw several Alpine Accentors during a 

 botanical excursion to the Dent de Morclcs, where^ according 



