THE ALPINE WABBLES. 435 



brown, and at the sides with rust-colour. The throat is white 

 with dark brown spots, and separated from the breast by a 

 dark brown line ; the breast whitish grey ; the sides of the 

 breast and belly, and underneath the wings, a beautiful brown- 

 ish red. The belly is greenish white, traversed by indistinct 

 dark grey wavy lines ; the vent dark brown ; the small wing 

 coverts grey, with a greenish gloss. The vent feathers, and 

 the two larger rows of coverts, are brownish black tipped with 

 white, which produces two parallel rows of white spots on the 

 wings. The pen feathers are brownish grey, with a border of 

 lighter hue ; the tail feathers dark brown, with each a yellow 

 spot on the inner plume. The females and young birds are 

 mottled with dark brown on the breast and belly, and are also 

 darker on the back. 



Observations. The Alpine Warbler is a native of the less 

 lofty mountain ranges which, in Switzerland and South Ger- 

 many, rise at the foot of the Alps ; and in the high cattle pas- 

 tures is as common as the Skylark with us. In winter it 

 descends into the valleys, and is often caught in considerable 

 numbers near the barns and villages.* It generally runs along 

 the ground, which it does as swiftly as the Wagtail, and rarely 

 perches upon trees. In a wild state it eats various seeds and 

 insects ; and in confinement may be fed on bread, ants' eggs, 

 crushed hemp, and poppy seeds. In Switzerland it is usually 

 kept in a cage, and may be preserved alive for many years. Its 

 song is agreeable, though somewhat melancholy ; and it is a 

 very lively bird, being constantly in motion. It builds its 

 nest on the ground, and in holes and crevices of the rocks. 



ADDITIONAL. Three specimens only of this bird, which is 

 sometimes called the Alpine Chanter, or Accentor, are recorded 

 to have been taken in this country : one in 1822, in the gardens 

 of King's College, Cambridge, where a pair of these birds, very 

 tame, were observed climbing the buttresses of the buildings, 

 and feeding on the grass plats ; the second, in a garden on the 

 borders of Epping forest, described in the Naturalist's Magazine 

 for the year 1832 ; and the third, in 1833, in the gardens of the 

 Deanery, Wells, Somersetshire. YAERELL, from whom we gather 

 the above particulars, says : " This bird on the continent does not 

 frequent bushes, nor perch on the branches of trees, like its generic 

 companion, the Hedge Accentor ; but is almost always observed 

 to be on rocks, or on the ground, and is remarkable for its con- 

 stant tameness, either from confidence or want of intelligence, 



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