BIBDS ON TEE BIGL 269 



Meadow-Pipit. — Common. 



Water-Pipit. — I saw but one, near the Rigi Staffel Hotel. I was 

 attracted by its greyish back and the whitish stripe over the eye. 



White Wagtail.— Not common. 



Swift (Cypselus apus). — I saw but one, and we were visited with no 

 "Alpensegler," as the Alpine Swift is usually called. 



In addition to these twenty-six species, I heard two different species of 

 Woodpecker, which I could not see or identify, but think that neither was 

 Picus martins, a bird I saw a few years ago at Bex, in the Rhone Valley. 



As I always make it a rule to go up a hill on my birthday, I 

 went up Pilatus on July 12th, 1899, and there, at a height of 

 about 7000 ft., I saw the Alpine Chough, the Snowfinch, and the 

 Rock-Thrush. I heard for the first time the pleasing little song 

 of the Snowfinch, and the really delightful song of the Rock- 

 Thrush ; but this latter I had heard before at the Hospice of 

 St. Bernard in 1896. To my mind the expression " bursts " or 

 " snatches " of song best describes this delightful warbling, which 

 alone enlivens those dreary and almost inaccessible places. There 

 is just one little patch of green near the Hotel Pilatus Kulm, and 

 an observer standing above it, and looking over the wall, may see 

 these rare birds below him, and hear undisturbed their delightful 

 song, with something of the Robin in it, and of the Blackcap too. 



I may mention that at the famous " Tunnels " on the Axen- 

 strasse, near Brunnen, the Crag Martin may always be found, 

 and also at the Gorges du Trient, near Vernayaz, at the Rhone 

 Valley. I have also seen the Wall-Creeper near the Tunnels, 

 but never yet have I been favoured with a sight of the Alpine 

 Accentor, one of the very few Swiss birds whose acquaintance I 

 cannot claim. 



