206 The Alps in September. 



empty, and my only companions are the faithful 

 Anderegg and my host, Herr Willi, now Cabinet 

 Minister of his Canton, who entertains me with 

 discourse of the history of the Haslithal, the 

 antiquities of which he has been the first to 

 explore. Some summer birds are still here ; the 

 Chiffchaff for a single moment uttered its voice 

 outside the window by which I write. The 

 Robins are in fair abundance, and a few will stay 

 in the valley, where the cold is not greater than 

 in our own climate, throughout the winter. A 

 walk this morning showed us the House-martin, 

 the Crag-martin, and a single individual of the 

 numerous Alpine Swifts, which in the summer 

 haunt the gigantic precipices that frown upon the 

 valley. 



We have seen how the Swallow-tribe departs 

 from the Alps, and have also learnt something of 

 the movements and migration of other birds ; but 

 I have still to discover in which direction the 

 tenderer birds, the various members of the tribe 

 of warblers, find a way to their southern winter 

 home. I can hardly believe that they can traverse 

 the wild and shelterless mountain passes with their 



