50.2 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Tatra Mountains and the Galician Carpathians, by Baron von M tiller in 

 the Alps, and by Victor Ritter von Tschusi in the Rieseugebirge. The 

 Alpine Accentor is a summer visitor to the grassy slopes where a brilliant 

 arctic flora, watered by the ever-melting ice, covers the ledges of the rocks 

 and the little plateaux amongst the boulders, between the highest limit of 

 forest-growth and the lowest boundary of perpetual snow. Its migrations, 

 however, are very limited. When its breeding-grounds are covered with 

 snow it descends into the valleys, and in severe winters will sometimes 

 wander further from home and be seen in unwonted localities. Except, 

 perhaps, when actually engaged in the duties of nidification, it is a more 

 or less gregarious bird ; and in winter they are usually seen in small parties 

 of ten or a dozen individuals. It is extremely tame, and allows itself to be 

 approached within ten or twelve paces without showing alarm. It is both 

 insectivorous and graminivorous. In spring it finds abundance of small 

 beetles, flies, gnats, moths, ants, and their larvae amongst the gentians, 

 saxifrages, anemones, primulas, and poteutillas which adorn its breeding- 

 grounds ; in autumn the alpine ground-fruits strawberry, crowberry, cran- 

 berry, &c. plentifully supply it with food; and in winter it feeds upon 

 a variety of seeds, especially those of grasses of different kinds. The 

 song is described as something like that of the Lark ; and the male is said 

 frequently to ascend thirty or forty feet into the air, and then descend 

 again, singing like a Tree-Pipit or a Snow-Bunting. At other times they 

 will sit motionless for a long time basking in the sun on a rock, with head 

 drawn in, plumage puffed out, and wings and tail depressed. The call- 

 note is a plaintive tree, tree, tree. They are said not to hop, but to run 

 on the grass and on the rocks. The flight is undulating. 



It is said that they breed twice in the year, about the middle of May 

 and the middle of July; but this requires confirmation. The nest is 

 placed on the ground, under an overhanging rock or rhododendron shrub, 

 and is neatly finished and rather deep. It is composed of dry round grass- 

 stalks, intermixed with fine roots and a few lichens. It is said sometimes 

 to be lined with moss, wool, or hair. The eggs vary in number from five 

 to six, and in size from I'O by '7 inch to '9 by '63 inch. In colour they 

 are unspotted pale greenish blue. 



From the colour of the eggs it might be supposed that the Accentors 

 were related to the Chats. The song of many of them is also somewhat 

 Chat-like. In its habits the Alpine Accentor is much more Chat-like than 

 either the Hedge- Sparrow or the Mountain- Accentor. Both these species 

 perch freely in trees ; but the Alpine Accentor, like the Chats, is essentially 

 a rock bird, and when perched on a rock is said often to drop its head and 

 the fore part of its body suddenly, at the same time jerking its tail and 

 drooping its wings a very Turdine habit. 



The Alpine Accentor has the colour of the head, neck, and ear-coverts 



