SNOW-FINCHES. 6^ 



close to the ground, I suddenly saw a small red fox make a 

 hungry dash upon them, startling me and causing me for the 

 moment unwittingly to move the glass and lose the whole scene. 

 When I found them again the fox was gone, the finches were 

 greatly troubled, and I fear there is no doubt that he secured 

 a dinner. 



The Snow-finch is a beautiful bird, rather larger than a Green- 

 finch or Sparrow, with long wings in which the primary quill- 

 feathers are much longer than the rest, as in some other birds of 

 airy and graceful flight. The strong contrast of jet-black and 

 purest white in the plumage, e. g. in the taU, which has two 

 black feathers in the middle while the rest are as white as snow, 

 makes the bird conspicuous at a long distance, and a more 

 striking object than the browner Snow-bunting, which occasion- 

 ally strays from the north to the Alps. Seldom have I seen 

 a more beautiful sight, unless it be a flight of Plover on English 

 water-meadows, than the wavings and whirlings of a flock of 

 Snow-finches, with their white feathers glistening in the sun one 

 moment, while the next their black ones will show clear against 

 the snow. 



One other bird, which loves these great heights in the summer, 

 may occasionally be seen within a few minutes' walk of the 

 place where the Snow-finch fell a victim. This is the red- 

 winged Kock- or Wall-creeper, a bird so beautiful and so unique 

 that it demands at least a passing notice. Wherever there is a 

 steep wall or rock facing the sun, this bird may be looked for and 

 occasionally seen, even in the midst of a snow-field or a glacier ; 

 for it seems, like so many human beings, to love a combination 



