IV The Marsh Warbler 75 



cannot use it under any circumstances. He may 

 feel as sure as he can be that he has seen something 

 remarkable, yet he may very well fail to convince 

 a truly discreet brother of the craft. Many a good 

 record has doubtless been lost in this way, btit, what 

 is much more important, many a bad record has 

 been set aside. In this case, however, I could not 

 even feel any moral certainty ; to an inexperienced 

 eye the two species are almost exactly alike, and I 

 had yet to learn what it is that really separates 

 them beyond a doubt. All this was very tantalising, 

 but luckily for me there was a way out of the 

 difficulty. In another month I should be set free 

 from my Oxford work ; what pleasanter plan could 

 I make for a holiday than to go and search for the 

 real Marsh Warbler where I knew he was likely to 

 be found? Could I but pay him a visit in his 

 Continental haunts, I might be pretty sure in a day 

 or two of fixing his identity in my mind beyond all 

 doubt and dispute. 



I knew where to go; for Professor Fatio of 

 Geneva had studied the bird in a certain Alpine 

 valley which is evidently a favourite haunt of the 

 species, and this vaUey I might easily reach before 

 the nesting and singing came to an end. But first 

 I determined to go to Meiringen in the Oberland, in 

 order to pick up my faithful old friend Johann 

 Anderegg, whose knowledge of Alpine birds had 



