OENITHOLOGISTS AND THE ALPS, 4I 



mountaineer would, be at home, that a fox, a badger, or even 

 a little troop of chamois, may occasionally be seen without 

 much climbing. If bad weather assails us on the heights, 

 which are liable even in June to sudden snow-storms and 

 bitter cold, we can descend rapidly into the valleys, to find 

 warmth and a new stratum of bird-life awaiting us. And if 

 persistent wet or cold drives us for a day or two to one of 

 the larger towns, Bern, or Zurich or Geneva, we can spend 

 many pleasant hours in the museums with which they are 

 provided, studying specimens at leisure, and verifying or cor- 

 recting the notes we have made in the mountains. 



It is a singular fact that I do not remember to have ever 

 seen an Englishman in these museums, nor have I met with 

 one in my mountain walks who had a special interest in the 

 birds of the Alps. Something is done in the way of butterfly- 

 hunting; botanists, or at least botanical tins, are not uncommon. 

 The guide-books have something to say of the geology and the 

 botany of the mountains, but little or nothing of their fauna. 

 I have searched in vain through all the volumes of the 

 ' Jahrbuch ' of the Swiss Alpine Club for a single article or 

 paragraph on the birds, and the oracles of the English Alpine 

 Club are no less dumb. 



Not that ornithologists are entirely wanting for this tempting 

 region ; Switzerland has many, both amateur and scientific. 

 An ornithological congress was held at Zurich not long ago. 

 Professor Fatio, of Geneva, one of the most distinguished of 

 European naturalists, has given much time and pains to the 

 birds of the alpine world, and published many valuable papers 



