70 The Alps in J^t,ne. 



descend rapidly into the valleys, to find warmth 

 and a new stratum of bird-life awaiting us. And 

 if persistent wet or cold drives us for a day or 

 two to one of the larger towns, Bern, or Zurich, 

 or Geneva, we can spend many pleasant hours 

 in the museums with which they are provided, 

 studying specimens at leisure, and verifying or 

 correcting the notes we have made in the 

 mountains. 



It is a singular fact that I do not remember to 

 have ever seen an Englishman in these museums, 

 nor have I met with one in my mountain walks 

 who had a special interest in the birds of the 

 Alps. Something is done in the way of butterfly- 

 hunting ; botanists, or at least botanical tins, are 

 not uncommon. The guide-books have some- 

 thing to say of the geology and the botany of the 

 mountains, but little or nothing of their fauna. 

 I have searched in vain through all the volumes 

 of the Jahrbuch of the Swiss Alpine Club for a 

 single article or paragraph on the birds, and the 

 oracles of the English Alpine Club are no less 

 dumb. 



Not that ornithologists are entirely wanting for 



