ii To the Engstlen Alp once more 29 



old sunburnt wooden houses; but about fourteen 

 years ago it was destroyed by a great fire, and arose 

 from its ashes a handsome village, with several great 

 hotels of stone, and many large wooden houses 

 sheltered by overhanging eaves. I think it is a fair 

 guess that the Martins have begun to be attracted 

 from their rocks by this change in the architecture, 

 as their forefathers were long ago by the temples 

 of the Greeks and Eomans, or as their American 

 cousins by the buildings of European colonists. 1 



If any of my readers should find themselves at 

 Meiringen, let them make one easy expedition 

 before they leave it for the Engstlen Alp. Let them 

 take the train down the valley to Brierizwyler, and 

 walk, as I did with old Anderegg and a friend last 

 year, up the road which there leaves the valley for 

 the Brlinig pass. We came to look for Crag-martins, 

 which nest on steep cliffs above the road ; we barely 

 saw a Crag-martin, but we found something even 

 better. Here is my note written on the spot, as I sat 

 under the baking sun by the roadside, watching the 

 perpendicular cliffs above me. "A butterfly-like 

 creature fluttered on to the face of the cliff, and 

 wriggled sideways along it into a crevice ; then out 

 again, and more wriggling ; then he took flight, 

 looking like a large moth, and showing wings on 

 which we could see white, and once or twice some 



1 See below, p. 199 foil. 



