Bir(L- of the Upper Eiiyadine. 27 



known to Naumann^ our knowledge of it is meagre in tbe 

 extreme. All my efforts to discover it failed until the 14th 

 of August^ when our party ascended the Pitz Lunghino 

 (9120 feet) in order to trace the Inn to its source. For 

 the first thousand feet above the Maloja the Pipits and Black 

 Redstarts were the commonest birds, but after we had passed 

 above the last stunted bush and had nearly reached the 

 gentian and soldanella ground, an unfamiliar note caught my 

 ear, a rich liquid chicli, ich, ich, ich, as gurgling as the note 

 of the Lark. I soon caught sight of the bird perched upon 

 a rock, scarcely to be distinguished at a distance from an 

 Alpine Pipit. My first thought was that it must be one of 

 those birds making a feeble effort to sing; but in a short time 

 the bird came much nearer, and began to hop about, some- 

 times on the short grass, but more often on the rocks. The 

 fact of its hopping like a Robin, instead of running like a 

 Wagtail, proved that it could not be a Pipit ; but fortunately 

 it possessed one habit in common with that bird, nameh^, 

 a propensity to indulge its curiosity. We sat quite still, 

 and presently it flew to a rock not more than thirty feet 

 from us, where its rich chestnut flanks could be seen with- 

 out glasses. It was exceedingly tame and did not seem 

 at all alarmed at our presence, though it was apparently 

 watching us. A writer quoted by Naumann says that the 

 Alpine Accentor does not hop but runs. This is unques- 

 tionably a mistake. There can be no doubt whatever that 

 its favourite mode of progression is a hop : I made a note of 

 the fact in my pocket-book in the presence of the bird itself ; 

 thus one of the alleged discrepancies between its habits and 

 those of its cousin, our common Hedge-Sparrow, was dis- 

 posed of. Another alleged fact respecting the Alpine Ac- 

 centor is that it ducks its head and jerks up its tail every 

 time it utters its note, after the manner of the Chats. The 

 fact also that it lays blue eggs, like the Chats, suggested a 

 relationship to those birds. The alleged fact is, however, a 

 myth. I heard the Alpine Accentor utter its note at least 

 fifty times, and I could perceive nothing of the habit alluded 

 to. On the other hand, the Black Redstart (which, with its 



