Migration at the Stein-alp. 193 



flying overhead, and secondly, a great number of 

 Pipits assembled on the Alp a few minutes' walk 

 from the house. We at once went to look for 

 these, but they had all disappeared ; and we con- 

 tinued our walk downwards in search of the Wood- 

 pecker. But we had not gone far when our 

 attention was attracted by a flock of Redstarts, 

 working slowly upwards a little above the path ; 

 and turning back again, we followed these for 

 some distance, assuring ourselves that they were 

 no accidental assembly, but must be on their way 

 to the head of the pass, and so onwards to the line 

 of St. Gotthard into Italy. As we arrived again 

 at the inn, we saw the flock of little birds which 

 Anderegg had described in the morning ; they 

 were still about the inn, but so restless and so 

 playful that even with a strong glass I could not 

 be certain of their species. My own impression 

 was that they were Redpolls ; Anderegg, however, 

 positively asserted that he had caught the voice of 

 Citril and Serin Finches. 



I now proposed that we should mount to the 

 top of the pass, in order to observe whether the 

 birds we had noticed in flocks lower down were 



o 



