BIRDS SEEN IN SWITZERLAND. 67 



black throat was assumed in summer ; yet a fledged brood in the 

 nest (which had the red on the wings well developed), in the Bern 

 Museum, are attended by a pair of birds neither of which has 

 any black on the throat ; but the latter may not be the actual 

 parents. 



Carduelis elegans, Goldfinch. — A common bird in the valleys, 

 Several pairs of large beautifully bright birds, with white cheeks, 

 about the chestnuts in the Minister Terrasse at Bern. This 

 terrace is a favourite place for birds of several species, and nesting- 

 boxes have been put up by an Ornithological Society. Many 

 pairs about the Hotel Bellevue grounds at Thun. A good many 

 among the fruit trees at Meiringen, and abundant in the orchards 

 about Stanz. 



Serinus hortulanus, Serin Finch. — A pair frequenting the trees 

 in the hotel garden at Thun, where the curious sibilant song of 

 the male could be heard — the latter a beautifully bright bird, 

 with forehead and lines on the face very yellow, flew down and 

 settled on the ground within three or four yards of where I was 

 standing. One clutch of eggs in the Bern Museum are marked 

 with large patches of reddish suffusion, similar to that seen in 

 those of the Chaffinch. 



Chrysomitris citrinella, Citril Finch. — A fine male was singing 

 on the roof-ridge of a hay chalet on the Gerschni Alp. He after- 

 wards settled on a big rock, and gave me an extended view at close 

 quarters before he flew off towards the pines. The most con- 

 spicuous features of the cock Citril Finch are the comparatively 

 long bill, grey cheeks, and the yellow and almost black bars on 

 the wings. The song was very curious, rather grating, something 

 linnetish about it, and yet different to anything I had heard 

 before, and I could not put it down on paper satisfactorily. 



Passer domesticus, House Sparrow. — It was a pleasure to find 

 oneself in a district where the Sparrow was scarce. There were 

 a few at Thun and Interlaken, more in Bern, of course, and 

 some about the pier at Stansstad. A pair were nesting, with 

 characteristic impudence, in a hole in the rock in the middle of 

 the inscription on the Lion monument at Lucerne, an untidy bit 

 of nesting material hiding some of the letters. 



Fringilla coelebs, Chaffinch. — A common bird, with a con- 

 siderable range in altitude. Common and in song at Bern, Thun, 

 Interlaken, and Meiringen. At the last named it sung its ordinary 



