IO4 The Alps in June. 



towards the Hasli-thal, passing through long 

 stretches of the pine-forests which so often separ- 

 ate the upper pastures from the valleys. There 

 are two families of birds to be met with in these 

 forests, of which I must say a very few words, 

 the Woodpeckers and the Titmice. The former 

 are not abundant, and it needs much patience 

 to find them. I was to have visited a nesting- 

 place of the Great Black Woodpecker (that awe- 

 inspiring bird, which has borne its name of Picus 

 Martins ever since it was the prophetic bird of 

 Mars 1 ), but fate decreed that I should have to 

 go that day in an opposite direction. The three 

 Spotted Woodpeckers great, middle, and lesser 

 all occur, but our familiar green bird, which 

 does not seem at home among the pines, is less 

 common. Rarest of all is the Three-toed Wood- 

 pecker, with yellow head, which dwells so An- 



1 In common with other Woodpeckers, as Mr. H. Wharton 

 has reminded me in the Academy. It is indeed very doubtful 

 whether this striking bird was known either to Aristotle or 

 Pliny ; it is now an uncommon bird in Italy, and is properly 

 an inhabitant of northern Europe. But when Italy was covered 

 with forest (cp. Theophrastus, Hist. Plant, v. 8. 2) it must have 

 been known to the country people. 



