The Gadmenthal. 191 



three-toed Woodpecker, whose ' fatherland ' (as 

 Anderegg called it) is among the highest pine- 

 woods at the head of the valley, would not show 

 himself ; though in the village of Gadmen we were 

 told by an inhabitant that he had lately seen no 

 less than seven of this species a whole family, 

 I suppose on a single tree. Perhaps they too 

 had come downwards in expectation of the winter. 

 Alpine autumn was indeed around us, and at 

 Gadmen we saw the first signs of the general 

 migration of man, beast, and bird, which takes 

 place at this time of year. A flock of sheep, 

 which had been all the summer on the elevated 

 Wendenalp, had just come down, and was being 

 penned in front of the inn as we arrived. Great 

 part of the population of the valley had assembled 

 to claim their own, and when the penning was 

 done all plunged into the living mass, men, women, 

 boys, and sheep being mixed up in one confused 

 struggle. Anxiety sat upon their faces, for no 



under ledges of rock, and are known there as the Rock-martin, 

 as distinct from the Rock-swallow (Felsenschwalbe), which is 

 the name there given to the Crag-martin. It is well-known that 

 there are places even in England where this bird prefers rocks 

 to houses. 



