BIRDS SEEN IN SWITZERLAND, ft 9 



a cedar or a stump, and even a big rock, but the male loves to 

 sing a short song while wheeling round high in the air. Before 

 I found out this habit I was quite at a loss to know where the 

 sound came from. The Lesser Eedpoll will sing when flying 

 from one tree-top to another, slanting down with expanded wings, 

 but the Mealy Eedpolls remained flying round and round high up 

 for many consecutive minutes. This short song is " chicki chicki 

 chicki wee wee"; an enlargement of the double call-note, "chicki* 

 chi," in fact. Again, to my ears, this call-note seemed to differ 

 from that of our bird in tone. 



Montifringilla nivalis, Snow Finch.— Observed a party of five 

 on a stony slope at top of the Joch Pass, when we were resting 

 there on the 25th June, being unable to get down the other side 

 on account of the depth of the snow, which was softened by the 

 blazing hot sun. One or two (? females) were very like Snow 

 Buntings in general appearance; but the slate-grey head, throat- 

 spot, and dark mantle are conspicuous in the old male. The long, 

 pointed black and white wings are very remarkable when the 

 birds fly. 



Pyrrhula europcza, Bullfinch. — Only observed once — viz. in 

 the beech wood on the N.W. side of the Briinig Pass. 



Loxia curvirostra, Crossbill. — Two flew overhead in the pines 

 below the Magis Alp, uttering their " psit psit psit"; another 

 very green bird seen there also. F. saw one with something in 

 its beak on the Engstlen, and Anderegg saw five in the pines at 

 the lower end of this alp. 



Emberiza citrinella, Yellow Bunting. — Observed at Interlaken, 

 where we found a nest of young near the top of a clipped spruce 

 fence about three feet high, and common in the hay-fields in the 

 valley of the Engelberger Aa. It seems fonder of gardens in 

 Switzerland than here, and is absurdly tame ; a Yellow Bunting 

 fed its full-fledged young one, quite in Interlaken, within a few 

 yards of us, and another strong young one had to be beaten out 

 of a shrub in the hotel garden at Engelberg before we could 

 identify it — at one yard's distance. 



E. cia, Meadow Bunting. — We did not identify this species, 

 but saw, and heard the note of, a bird which Anderegg declared 

 was it, and he was doubtless right. This was at Ini-Hof, a known 

 locality for it. 



Sturnus vulgaris, Starling, — Some young broods, flocked, in 



