VALLEY OF ENGELBBEG. 55 



hatch has its nest in holes in the maple-trees, which in these 

 valleys are of great size and beauty. In the woods and under- 

 growth you may see the Chiff-chaff, and WiUow-wren, and 

 Garden-warbler, and here and there a Buzzard-hawk : the 

 Kohin and Blackbird are about, but not nearly so common as 

 with us, and we are at first surprised at the total absence of 

 Song-thrushes, and the comparative rarity of Sparrows, Sky- 

 larks, and Yellowhammers. 



The commonest bird of all in the Engelberg valley, is one 

 which we seldom see in England, and never in the summer. This is 

 the Black-redstart, a bird which has a wide summer distribution 

 all over Europe, and is found in Switzerland at all altitudes, 

 suiting itself to all temperatures. Wherever there is a chalet 

 under the eaves of which it can build, there it is to be found as 

 soon as spring has begun to appear, even though the snow is 

 lying all around. I have found it myself nesting in chalets 

 before the herdsmen and cows had arrived there, and at a height 

 of 6000 feet or more, it has woke me at dawn with its song : yet 

 at the same time it is abounding in the plains of France and 

 Germany, and nowhere have I seen greater numbers than in the 

 park at Luxembourg. It is one of the puzzles of ornithology, 

 that in spite of this, the bird never comes to England in the 

 summer ; and that the stragglers that do visit us always appear 

 as winter visitants ; straying to our foggy shores as if by mis- 

 take, when they ought to be on their way to the sunny south. 



The little ' Eothel,' as they call him, is a great favourite with 

 the Swiss peasantry ; he is trustful and musical, and will sing 

 sometimes when you are withia a few feet of him. They are 



