BIBD-NOTES IN SWITZEBLAND AND GEBMANY. 67 



once that it was the Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax) — in German, 

 " Zwergtrappe." The birds were doubtless young ones, and 

 when in Strassburg I found that there was but one specimen in 

 the Zoological Museum, and that none had been observed in 

 Alsace since 1853. My list at Schinznach was sixty-four species. 



Strassburg I found to be an excellent bird-station, and there 

 I observed seventy-two species. " Most of these I had previously 

 noted at Schinznach. The Serin Finch seemed to be the charac- 

 teristic bird of Alsace— or rather Elsass — as was the Chaffinch 

 of Switzerland. In the very hottest weather — and we had the 

 temperature on some days in July up to 95° — the unwearied 

 " buzzing " song of the little Serin could be heard and he himself 

 seen in tree-tops or on telegraph-wires everywhere. 



Our pension in the Universitatstrasse had opposite to it the 

 University Botanical Gardens and Observatory, and beside it the 

 Zoological Museum, where I was very kindly received by the 

 Director, Herr Doderlein, and his assistant, shown the various 

 specimens, and allowed to make extracts from Naumann's great 

 work and others. I had also the honour of making the acquaint- 

 ance of Geheimrath Dr. Julius Euting, University Librarian, 

 and President of the Vogesen Club, who gave me a great deal of 

 interesting information about the Storks and other birds at 

 Strassburg. He said that the following birds nested in the 

 cathedral spire and towers : Kestrel, Jackdaw, Common Swift, 

 and domestic Pigeon ; but that the number of Storks breeding in 

 Strassburg had of late years greatly diminished, and that whereas 

 twenty or thirty years ago there were as many as one hundred 

 and twenty nests in the city, this year there were but nine. He 

 attributed the decrease to the universal burning of stone-coal 

 instead of wood ; the birds greatly disliked the fumes of the 

 former. He gave the date of their arrival about mid April, and 

 of their departure about Aug. 15th. 



On July 4th I looked out at 3.15 a.m., just as day was dawn- 

 ing, and heard a few notes of celestial music, as it seemed to me ; 

 a Lark, and yet hardly a Sky-Lark, there, I thought. Next morn- 

 ing, at seven o'clock, I heard it again, and then saw that it pro- 

 ceeded from a Lark singing on the top of a high house nearly 

 opposite. On inquiring at the museum I found that this bird 

 was the Crested Lark (Alauda cristata) — in German, "Hauben- 



