58 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



fast asleep. Besides Emberiza cia, a fine Black Redstart crossed 

 my path on June 25th. Many sleepless nights, on and after 

 June 30th, were gladdened by the refrain " cheerweeder — sweeter- 

 weeder," commenced about 3.30 a.m., ceasing between 8 and 

 8.30 p.m. The stable roof haunted by this feathered minstrel 

 was vis-a-vis to our rooms iu the Grand Hotel. He seldom left 

 his gable, but when he did so his visits to a pile of loose timber, 

 stones, and rubbish immediately behind the dependence, roused 

 us to useless searches for his nest. About July 10th, his visits to 

 the roof were few and far between ; other adult males repeatedly 

 passed us, carrying insects to their young. On July 16th two 

 young male Black Redstarts issued unexpectedly from the loose 

 crevices of a stone dyke ; they bowed fearlessly, bobbed their 

 tails and bodies, hopped energetically in and out among the 

 pieces of loose grey rock ; they also took short flits after gnats, 

 sometimes perching on an ash tree with their presumptive parent. 

 On July 20th one of these little fellows, which I had trapped the 

 evening before to moult in confinement, expired from a slight 

 fall, as we left Mont Dore for Clermont. Some Pipits, which 

 haunted the plateau behind the town, on the cascade side, were 

 probably A nth i in campestris. The only bird of interest remaining 

 on the list of those which I studied continuously (for I obtained 

 glimpses only of the Bock Thrush and Oriole) is the Common 

 Buzzard. A pair of adults, whose young were offered for sale by 

 a guide, constantly worked the valley for food, as well as the 

 heights around. About four miles from Clermont a Crested Lark 

 rose close to our carriage ; House Swallows and Sparrows, absent 

 from Mont Dore, became numerous. Our tedious detention by 

 ill health at Geneva was not quite barren. We closely examined 

 the rarer birds in the museum, saw a wild Serin on the south of 

 the town, and obtained from a tailor (the evening before we left) 

 a couple of hand-reared YVoodchat Shrikes. The female lived 

 until the September following ; at her decease she had lost no 

 feathers. The male began to moult at once, and on October 

 24th the process was still incomplete, The medical station 

 of St. Beatenberg was reached August 11th. Here the Black 

 Redstart haunted chalet roofs ; some constantly perched on the 

 telegraph wires outside the Alpenrose Hotel. On and after 

 August 15th the males only sang the first portion of their song ; 

 two old fellows exhibited short sprouting tails at this date, and a 



