ACCENTOR ALPINUS. 



and may be seen in the environs of the convent. In summer it ascends 

 to the very elevated stations, where it breeds in holes and fissures of the 

 rocks ; it lays four or five eggs, of a pale bluish-green colour. In winter, 

 as the snows accumulate upon the rocky steeps, it descends towards the 

 valleys and middle regions of the mountains, where it subsists upon the 

 seeds of alpine grasses and plants, at this season constituting its entire 

 food ; in summer, however, in addition to its vegetable diet, it destroys 

 grasshoppers and other insects. 



