THE ALPINE ACCENTOR. 

 Accentor collaris (Scopoli). 

 Plate 9. 



The first recorded examples in England of the Alpine Accentor were two birds 

 seen in and about the gardens and buildings of King's College, Cambridge, in 

 November 1822, one of which was shot. 



A single bird had been previously killed in Essex in 181 7, although not 

 recorded until 1832. 



There are altogether about twenty authentic records of this bird in Great 

 Britain. 



The Alpine Accentor is an inhabitant of the high mountain ranges of Central 

 and Southern Europe, varying the altitude of its haunts according to the season, 

 and it is always an exceedingly tame and confiding bird. 



The nest is built in May among the rocks and stones, and according to Pro- 

 fessor Newton (Yarrell's British Birds, 4th ed., vol. i. p. 299) " is formed of 

 rootlets, grass, moss and wool, and lined with hair. The eggs are four to six in 

 number, of a fine light greenish-blue." 



Its food consists of seeds and insects. 



Seebohm states in his British Birds (vol. i. p. 502) : " The song is described 

 as something like that of the Lark ; and the male is said frequently to ascend thirty 

 or forty feet into the air, and then descend again, singing like a Tree-Pipit or a 

 Snow-Bunting. At other times they will sit motionless for a long time basking 

 in the sun on a rock, with head drawn in, plumage puffed out, and wings and tail 

 depressed." This basking habit, which Macgillivray noticed in the Hedge- 

 Sparrow, seems common to both species. 



The only personal acquaintance I have had with the Alpine Accentor was 

 many years ago in Switzerland, near the top of the Rigi, where I had the oppor- 

 tunity of watching an old bird, followed by a fully-fledged young one. They were 

 easily approached, and were hopping and flitting about among the rocks and patches 

 of half-melted snow, where gentians were flowering. 



The sexes do not difl"er in colour. 



59 



