106 The Alps in June. 



Gentelthal, which is even more attractive to the 

 ornithologist than any of its cousins. This is the 

 Crested-tit (Lophophanes cristatus. Linn.), now so 

 rare even in Scotland, and, according to Anderegg, 

 not too common even in these pine-forests. It 

 needs a vigilant eye and ear to detect it, so 

 closely does it resemble its relatives (and espe- 

 cially the Blue species) both in voice and appear- 

 ance, until you catch the well-marked crest on 

 the head, and the additional shade of melancholy 

 in the note. So close indeed are this bird and 

 the Blue-tit in form, habits, and note, that I am 

 astonished that the crest by itself (a few feathers 

 raised on the head) should have been thought a 

 sufficiently strong character to raise it into a 

 separate genus Lophophanes. If we notice the 

 Blue-tit carefully, we shall find that he also often 

 elevates his head-feathers into something like a 

 crest ; imagine this a little larger, and the bright 

 colouring of the Blue-tit sobered into a soft bluish 

 gray, and you will get a very good idea of the 

 appearance of the male Crested-tit. His lady is 

 brown rather than gray, causing Anderegg to 

 make one of those mistakes to which the peasant- 



