NOTES AND QUERIES. 309 



placed in the stems of a tall plant, apparently a kind of nettle. Twelve 

 stems of this plant passed through the rim of the nest, which was made 

 almost entirely of dried grass, with very little horsehair. There was no 

 moss, as there was in the nest found this year at Kingham by Mr. Fowler, 

 which has already been described in * The Zoologist.' The hen was sitting 

 on five beautiful eggs, and the cock, who was singing quite close to the 

 nest, continued his song only a short distance away, even after we had 

 flushed the hen from the nest. The Engstlen Alp seems to be a favourite 

 place of the birds, and there I was glad to make the acquaintance of many 

 that were quite new to me. The Alpine Pipit (Anthus spipoletta) is abun- 

 dant, and his cricket-like song is to be heard throughout the fragrant 

 pastures. By a piece of good luck we found a nest and eggs of this bird. 

 It was placed on a steep grassy slope, and was sheltered by a very small tuft 

 of Alpine roses ; both in construction and position it was much like the 

 nests of other pipits which I have seen*. The hen was sitting on five eggs 

 which were marked not unlike those of the Rock Pipit (Anthus obscurus), 

 but were of a greenish colour. I also caught a young bird scarcely able to 

 fly, and noticed that its throat was creamy white, and that it was much 

 spotted on the breast. The inner webs of two feathers on each side of the 

 tail were white, and the legs and feet were yellow. One morning T 

 clambered up the steep grass slopes to try and find a nest of the Alpine 

 Accentor. (Accentor alpinus). Before I had gone very far I found a pair of 

 these birds carrying food, and after a good deal of watching, succeeded in 

 finding the nest. The cock and hen were so much alike, that I could not 

 see any difference ; they moved about silently, flicking their wings in a 

 restless way, and after I had been watching them for some time, one flew 

 away and the other deliberately ate all the food it was carrying. In a short 

 time, however, both returned, and one soon went to feed the young. The 

 nest was well concealed under a rock which projected from a very steep 

 bank and was covered with grass. Some of the grass hung down in front 

 and formed a screen. It was substantially made of short bits of dry grass 

 and moss, and contained a few feathers. There were four young, whose 

 feathers were only just beginning to grow; when they opened their mouths, 

 crying for food, I was able to see that there were two black spots at the back 

 of their tongues. Higher up, about the precipices, were numbers of Alpine 

 Choughs (Pyrrhocorax alpinus). I came upon two young birds whose bills 

 and legs were black. The old birds kept wheeling round with their 

 beautiful flight, sometimes uttering a curious whistle, and I saw several 

 flying in and out of crevices in the rock where they had their nests. 

 Perhaps the most delightful nest we saw was that of a Teal (Querquedala 

 crecca). Lined with down, and containing six eggs, it was placed in the 

 midst of a bush of Alpine roses, close to a very small pool of water, and at 

 some little distance from the lake. By crawling carefully we managed to 



