174 Mr. H. Saunders on Birds 



and hammer the nuts energetically to free them from their 

 shucks, pausing to look up^ as if for admiration ; so like our 

 old friend Punch, after disposing of his enemies, that I almost 

 expected the " rootitoot " of triumph to follow. Then the 

 bird would hop rapidly up the branches — as if on the rungs 

 of a ladder — to the top of the tree, dash away across a ravine, 

 settle on a bush, and be lost to view for a time, returning 

 with its crop quite distended with nuts. I Matched, the 

 antics of these amusing birds for hours, often within easy 

 gun-shot and by the aid of a binocular ; in fact, nearly all 

 one Sunday was spent with the Nutcrackers. One of the 

 notes is a peculiar giiri^e, gurre ; but there is another, like 

 a sprung rattle. 



Garrulus glandarius (Linn.). 



The Jay is exceedingly common everywhere, and resident. 



Pica rustica (Scopoli). 



The Magpie is only too plentiful, but far less so than the 

 Jay, and does not ascend so high. I do not find it noted 

 from Chauraont. 



CORVUS MONEDULA, LiuU. 



The Jackdaw is found about several old fortified towns 

 (such as Morat, Fribourg, Romont, &c.) and chateaux, but it 

 is very local. 



CoRvus coRAX, Linn. 



The Raven is now almost confined to the mountains, where 

 I saw and heard it several times. A pair inhabit that grand 

 cirque, the Creux-de-Vent, above the Val de Travers, between 

 Neuchatel and Pontarlier. 



CoRVUS CORONE, Linn. 



In Switzerland the prefix " Carrion'^ cannot appropriately 

 be applied to the Crow, for that bird virtually takes the place 

 of our Rook, eats similar food, and is equally at home in 

 the wooded mountains, the fields, the gardens, and about the 

 houses, even in towns like Lausanne and Vevey. At the 

 last-named place it stalks along the parapet by the lake, 

 within a yard or two of the passers-by, strives with the Gulls 



