The Alpine Accentor. 133 



in one comer of the aviary, and dropping back headlong : sometimes it takes three 

 or four weeks before they abandon this senseless acrobatic performance. 



In a cage the Hedge-Sparrow becomes comparatively tame in a few days ; but 

 then it is far more liable to the distressing ophthalmic disease referred to by 

 Stevenson, than it is in an aviary ; moreover, being extremely restless, it hops 

 incessantly from perch to perch — click-clack, click-clack, " doing the pendulum trick" 

 as I used to say ; a performance most irritating to one's nerves. 



The only sound I ever heard from my Hedge-Sparrows was a sharp and rather 

 short high whistle, which I took to be the call-note ; and, what with their stupidity, 

 pugnacity,* and sulky silence in captivity, this species is, in my opinion, the very 

 worst subject for aviary life. In the garden and the country it is charming ; but, 

 as a pet, contemptible. 



I once tried rearing this species from the nest, but made the mistake of 

 feeding upon hard-boiled ^^^ and sweet biscuit : the young should certainly have 

 been fed principally upon moistened ants' cocoons and cut up mealworms, or small 

 caterpillars. 



Family- TURDID^. Subfamily— A CCENTORIN^. 



The Alpine Accentor, 



Accentor collaris, Scop. 



CURIOUSLY enough, although this bird is only an occasional straggler to Great 

 Britain, I caught a specimen in my garden at Penge about the year 1883. 

 At the time I did not know what to make of it ; and, not being aware of its 

 rarity, I never recorded the capture : indeed I supposed then that it might be only 

 an unusually large, brownish, and somewhat aberrant variety of the Hedge-Sparrow : 

 it was evidently a young bird, as the white throat-patch was barely indicated. So 



*One of my males fought a Robin, until lie became a perfect scarecrow, and had to be liberated. 



