2836 The Zoologist — November, 1871. 



Passeres. 



Nutcracker (Nucifraga cavyocatacles). — This mysterious bird is 

 especially abundant when the Stone Pines are covered with cones : 

 it is then found everywhere, in the pine forests as also among the 

 underwood. They leave us mostly in the winter, but some few 

 stay with us the whole year. I have never been able to discover 

 the nest of the nutcracker, but I think it must breed in April, 

 since I have seen the young in May. In July I have killed young 

 birds that had not attained their full growth. 



Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). — These noisy and 

 suspicious birds live in flocks among our mountains, where they 

 nestle. [I have often heard and seen them in my botanical 

 explorations above Samaden. — P. /.] 



Common Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus). — This bird is more 

 abundant with us than is generally supposed, and usually is seen 

 in pairs. In spring and summer it comes down into the valleys to 

 seek for insect-food in the meadows exposed to the sun. In 

 summer it inhabits the forests. 



Gray Shrike (Lanius excubitor). — Some few of these birds 

 remain with us throughout the year, I have frequently seen this 

 bird perched in the topmost branches of isolated larches in the 

 months of December and January. 



Lesser Gray Shrike (Lanius minor). — I have not unfrequently 

 seen this shrike in April or at the beginning of May, but always 

 solitary. 



Rock Tlirush (Turdus saxatilis). — This pretty species is rare in 

 our valley, still I have seen it several times, and the young have 

 been found in a nest in the neighbourhood of Samaden. 



Black Redstart (Sylvia Tithys). — This is the commonest of our 

 warblers. It inhabits the Alps from the lowest valleys to the 

 snow-limits, wherever it finds rock-strewn ground. This and 

 Fringilla nivalis, Accentor alpinus, Saxicola oenanthe and Motacilla 

 alba are the only warblers which give animation to the solitudes 

 of the glaciers. 



Blueihroated Warbler (Sylvia suecica). — Rare with us. I possess 

 but one specimen captured in the neighbourhood. 



Alpine JVat'bler (Accentor alpinus). — This bird keeps on the 

 heights, only very seldom approaching the villages. It is common 

 on our mountains, generally occurring in pairs. 



