CHAPTER II 



TO THE ENGSTLEN ALP ONCE MORE 



I HAVE written of the Engstlen Alp before, and it 

 may be that my readers have heard enough about it. 

 I am nevertheless going to please myself, and to tell 

 what I have met with, there and on the way thither, 

 since A Year loitli the Birds was published in 1886. 

 Up to that date I had no bird-loving companion in 

 my mountain rambles, except my faithful old friend 

 Johann Anderegg ; I had to identify all strange birds 

 as well as I could, with the aid of public collections 

 and standard works like that of Mr. Dresser. Of 

 late I have twice been fortunate in the companion- 

 ship of ornithologists : one a ripe scholar in the 

 craft, whose eyes, ears, and note-book were ever in 

 vigorous use ; the other a younger enthusiast, gifted 

 with such powers of climbing and nest-finding as I 

 have not been able to lay claim to these twenty 

 years and more. Knowing where birds were to 

 be looked for, I in each case contrived to satisfy 

 almost all their aspirations ; and in return they dis- 



