Notes of a Tour in Switzerland, 5219 



absence of the species. These alpine rivers having for the most part 

 their source and origin amid the glaciers, are rendered turbid and 

 filthy by the moraines, and rush down in an impetuous muddy flood, 

 defiling the water throughout its entire course, and in point of colour 

 precisely resembling the contents of a mason's bucket, a circumstance 

 which, while it sadly detracts from the beauty of the landscape, cur- 

 tails also (as it should seem) the Fauna of the district; for, if I am 

 rightly informed, no trout or other fish, or very few at least, inhabit 

 these impure streams, and the water-ouzel, as already stated, seems to 

 scorn them. The bird, however, is a native of Switzerland ; and in 

 the valley, near Moutier, on the Jura, I had the pleasure of seeing it 

 curtsying, as its manner is, on the rocks, and skimming over a deli- 

 riously limpid stream sufficiently stocked with trout to excite the 

 spirit of a lover of the angle. I have remarked already on the ex- 

 treme scarcity of birds throughout the tour: one ornithological treat, 

 however, we had in perfection. While we were standing in the 

 spacious area at the west end of the cathedral, at Berne, for the pur- 

 pose of viewing the edifice, my eye caught a distant glimpse of a swift, 

 as it rapidly passed behind the roofs of the houses. The bird was out 

 of sight in a moment; nevertheless I felt confident it was a swift, and 

 a fine one too. This was on the 14th of September; and I thought 

 the appearance of a swift so late in the season would cut a figure 

 among the memorabilia to be noted in my ' Naturalists Calendar.' 

 I had not seen a swift since August 10th, at Antwerp, where many 

 were seen in the evening of that day screaming high in the air over 

 the town. On ascending the tower of Berne cathedral in order to get 

 an extensive view of the surrounding country, I observed some twenty 

 or thirty swifts sporting about at a great height above the spire. The 

 man who lives in the tower and shows it to visitors proved to be 

 somewhat of an ornithologist; and perceiving my attention to be 

 greatly attracted by the birds, he immediately cried out " Cypselus 

 alpinus," — words which were soon verified to my entire satisfaction; for 

 presently a swift approached the battlements, and flying within only a few 

 feet immediately over my head entered the interstices of the architectu- 

 ral ornaments of the building, where she had still a brood of young 

 ones, which were heard to chirp merrily to greet the approach of 

 their parent : the visit of the parent bird to the nest was repeated 

 several times while we remained on the tower, and it afforded me a 

 closer and far better view of the bird than I could otherwise have 

 obtained. The alpine swift is a much larger bird than the common 

 one, of a dingy brown colour, and whitish on the breast and belly : in 



