NUTCRACKER. 157 



and^ when we had passed the Reider Alp^ began to descend 

 the rug-ged side of the mountain, which is covered with fir- 

 trees, through which the path is cut in steep zigzags to the 

 edge of the Great Aletsch glacier in the valley beneath. We 

 had scarcely entered the wood, Avhen I heard the call of a 

 bird whose note was quite new to me, strong and loud, yet 

 full and rich, reminding me of the Australian Crow, whose 

 note I had heard in confinement. My brother thought it 

 was harsh, but I thought it only clear. We both watched, 

 and saw the bird- busy at the top of a fir-tree, searching 

 among the cones. It seemed very wary, but not shv, and as 

 we could oidy see it against the sky, it looked black, and it 

 flew away before we could make out what bird it was. 



" A short time after, I heard another call, and proceeding- 

 very quietly, I saw the bird busily at work on the top of a 

 fir-tree pounding into one of the cones, using its powerful 

 beak like a hammer, as the Nuthatch and the Tits do. Before 

 we got down to the edge of the glacier, we saw five or six of 

 the birds. I think they were a family party^ they answered 

 each other's call, and flew from tree to tree, always settling 

 quite on the tops of the firs and holding the cones with their 

 feet together, beating into them with their beaks. I could 

 not get near enough to see the spots clearly^ they looked a 

 brownish black. I consider they were young birds of the 

 year, and, like Starlings, not getting their full plumage till 

 after the moult. I have no doubt as to their being Nut- 

 crackers ; there seems no other bird they could possibly be. 

 I was very glad to have the opportunity of watching them. 

 They looked about the size of small Jackdaws^ but it is 

 always difficult to judge accurately the size of birds in very 

 wild and bold scenery .^^ 



The editor of YarrelFs 'British Birds' (vol. ii. p. 335), 

 describes a nest in his possession as five or six inches in thick- 

 ness, with an outside diameter of about a foot, and six inches 



