^34 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



far as I can remember, I caught this bird in September ; I know that it was just 

 when the birdcatchers were bringing Linnets and Goldfinches for sale. The bird 

 was abominably wild, knocked itself about in a cage, finally got a growth over 

 one eye, and died in such poor condition that I never thought of preserving the 

 skin : had I then known its value, I should have saved it in proof of my statement, 

 and certainly kept it, when alive, in a large cage by itself; whereas it had two 

 Hedge- Accentors as companions ; the latter, by the side of their rare relative, 

 looked insignificant, much as a Song- Thrush by the side of a Missel-Thrush.* 



This species has its home in the mountains of South-western Europe, Asia 

 Minor, the Caucasus, and Northern Persia. In Great Britain it has been chiefly 

 met with in the southern counties ; having been known to occur in Cambridge- 

 shire, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Devonshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, 

 Wales and Yorkshire. 



The adult bird has the crown and nape smoky- grey, with darker stripes ; the 

 remainder of the upper surface brown, with darker shaft-streaks ; rump slightly 

 paler than the back ; median and greater wing-coverts brown, varied with black, 

 and tipped with white; quills and tail-feathers dark-brown, tipped with buff; ear- 

 coverts grey, with darker stripes ; chin and throat white, with black spots ; breast, 

 centre of abdomen, and under tail-coverts smoky-grey ; flanks chestnut, with buf&sh 

 edges to the feathers ; bill with the upper mandible mostly black, base 3'ellowish ; 

 lower mandible yellowish, black at the tip ; feet flesh-brownish ; iris hazel. Young 

 birds have the plumage spotted with rufous, and the white on the throat is 

 wanting. 



Gatke says : — " This interesting native of the mountains has not considered it 

 beneath his dignity to leave his Alpine home in order to find a place in the group 

 of distinguished visitors to little Heligoland. I have obtained the bird on three 

 occasions : two individuals in spring plumage in May 1852 and 1870, and one in 

 autumn plumage in October 1862. Apart from these instances, there is certain 

 proof of its having been seen on two other occasions, but the birds in question 

 could not be shot on account of their extraordinar}^ shj^ness." 



Seebohm, on the authority of various observers, states that the " Alpine 

 Accentor is a summer visitor to the grassy slopes where a brilliant arctic flora, 

 watered by the ever-melting ice, covers the ledges of the rocks and the little 

 plateaux amongst the boulders, between the highest limit of forest- growth and the 

 lowest boundarj^ of perpetual snow. Its migrations, however, are verj- limited, 



* In recording these facts now, I am perfectly well aware that manj' scientific Ornithologists will only 

 curl their noses in scorn, believing that I am either drawing upon a vivid imagination, or talking of some 

 common species which I imagined to be an Accentor ; but those who know me intimate] v, will oiTe me credit 

 for an excellent memory for form and colouring. 



