°i8 6 1 Hoffmann, Summer Birds of the Rhine. "l I I 



Soon the valley turned towards the river, the Blackcap's song 

 and the Blackbird's whistle sounded more faintly from the 

 mountain side, and Redstarts flew from the walls to the houses, 

 which now became more numerous. As I paused a moment to 

 look back, the last gleam of sunlight fell on the rugged outlines of 

 the hills. I heard once more the Blackbird whistling far up the 

 glen, and then, stepping out into St. Goarshausen, came upon the 

 busy Rhine flowing by as swiftly as it did when Caesar bridged 

 it. High in air was a multitude of birds, which also circled there 

 no doubt in Caesar's time, great crescent-shaped Swifts, Martins 

 and Swallows, and low over the river Bank Swallows uttering their 

 harsh notes. 



The Swifts and Swallows, as I have said before, are constant 

 attendants of a Rhine journey in summer. From Mainz to 

 Cologne they circled about the steamer, and at Arnheim, in Hol- 

 land, where in August I took the boat for Rotterdam, I found them 

 again. Above Bingen, before the river enters the Highlands, and 

 at Coblenz where it escapes from them, there are broad expanses, 

 where I was surprised to see not only Terns but Gulls, two hun- 

 dred miles from the ocean ; the Tern was our common species, 

 and the Gull corresponded to our Bonaparte's. Herons, too, 

 frequented these upper reaches, and from the low islands the 

 steamer's wash drove Sandpipers, closely related to our Actitis. 



Below Arnheim the river is more sluggish, and for some distance 

 before it reaches Rotterdam, it attains considerable breadth. 

 Great barges ascend it here, or pass by one of the numerous 

 canals and branches, to the River Maas. The country was here 

 yery flat and fertile. The fields were full of sleek cattle, among 

 whom, in July, Starlings innumerable had walked. Now they had 

 all wandered off in one of those vast throngs which blacken the 

 sky in Autumn. The Swifts too were very scarce, only now and 

 then one showed his scimitar wings among the Swallows. Lap- 

 wings and Curlews fed in the fields, which were intersected by 

 countless ditches. When the boat disturbed the Lapwings, they 

 rose and with shrill cries and nervous flight, mounted upward, 

 their white rumps and bellies contrasting with their glossy backs. 

 Quite as conspicuous and with the same contrasting colors, were 

 he occasional Magpies, which flew up from the banks, flirting 



