THE CRESTED-TIT. 67 



you will get a very good idea of the appearance of the male 

 Crested -tit. His lady is brown rather than grey, causing 

 Anderegg to make one of those mistakes to which the peasant- 

 naturalist is liable ; he assured me that there were two species, 

 answering to the two prevailing tints. 



I never can forget the spot where my old friend's sharp ear 

 first caught for me the note of these rare little birds. If any 

 bird-lover should chance to walk from Engstlen down to the 

 Hasli-thal, he should stop near the foot of the first rapid descent 

 among the pines, where the stream which he has lately crossed 

 tumbles over a ledge of rock into a deep dark pool. At the 

 very edge of this pool stand a few black pine-trees, and among 

 the thick branches of these the Tits were playing. Above us 

 were vast mountain walls, and at our feet was the mossy grass, 

 damp with the spray of the fall ; among the grey boulders 

 the Alpine rhododendron was coming into bloom. At a little 

 distance a robin was singing its ever-welcome song, mingling 

 its English music with the sound of Alpine cow-bells from 

 the pasture further down the vaUey. Such scenes Unger for 

 ever in the memory, and are endeared to us by the thought 

 of the blithe creatures who live and sport among them during 

 a long golden summer, long after we have returned to the ^^land 

 of misty meadows and miry ways. 



But we must now leave these woods and pastures, and 

 descend to the deep valley of the Hasli-thal, where we shall end 

 our journey at Meiringen. If, instead of following the ordinary 

 path, we skirt along the heights to the north towards Hasliberg, 

 and so keep in cooler air, enjoying endless views, we shall 



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