68 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



lerche " — and that there were two nests on the roof of the 

 Zoological Museum. Both were smashed to pieces by the hail 

 during a terrific thunderstorm, which occurred while we were 

 there, the temperature falling from 95° in the shade to 64° in 

 twenty-four hours. 



At the Orangerie, a beautiful park, said to be the finest in 

 Germany, I saw, but did not hear, the Nightingale, and in the 

 Black Forest and also in the Vosges Mountains I observed the 

 Crested Tit ; but other birds were scarce. The Greenfinches in 

 Strassburg had a few notes which I never heard anywhere else ; 

 and the Icterine Warbler — called there " Gartensanger " — could 

 be heard every day in the gardens near the university, but the 

 time of the singing of Nightingales was past. On the whole I 

 noted eighty-five species during June and July, but there were two 

 which I failed to identify — frequently heard, but unseen. Perhaps 

 some of your readers might be able to solve the mystery : — 1. 

 From the marshy ground near the Aare I heard what I can best 

 describe as a "desolate" cry — "kra-ah-ah" — and one evening 

 saw a large bird high in the air, flying with neck stretched out 

 rigidly. Could this have been a Crane ? 2. We frequently heard 

 a soft melodious note of a few syllables, something like the 

 "rippling" note of the Little Grebe, but louder, sweeter, and 

 more of a whistle, with about as many syllables as in the well- 

 known cry of the Whimbrel. I never saw the bird, but constantly 

 heard it, sometimes near water, but on other occasions in a 

 meadow some distance away. Could the Little Grebe have any 

 notes other than those we usually hear, for on one occasion at 

 Neuhof I heard the well-known note of the Little Grebe followed 

 immediately by this louder and richer cry ? 



