394 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



after the first day of the snowstorm, and I did not see them 

 again. 



My list for the Rhone Glacier Valley proper did not include 

 more than half a dozen hirds. Linnets and Redpolls were very 

 numerous, Black Redstarts, Water Pipits, White Wagtails, and 

 House-Martins were about all. When the weather moderated, 

 however, and we were able to walk over the Grimsel and Furka 

 roads, we added to the number. Wrens were very plentiful and 

 in full song almost to about 7000 ft., and to my great surprise 

 I heard Bonelli's Warbler and the Garden- Warbler at the same 

 height. A few Alpine Choughs and Snow-Finches were also 

 seen. Descending towards the Oberwald, 4316 ft., I observed 

 the Wood-Warbler, the Whinchat, and many Goldcrests, and for 

 the first time the House- Sparrow, though I had observed the 

 Hedge- Sparrow on the Furka Strasse. A bird which I heard 

 near the top of the Grimsel Pass was quite new to me, and I am 

 very anxious to identify it if possible. The height was about 

 7000 ft., and the note of the bird, constantly repeated, sounded 

 exactly like " Titchi, duck, duck."* There were evidently two 

 birds answering each other, and in exactly the same phraseology. 

 I never heard these notes before nor have I since, though on two 

 occasions I revisited the spot, hoping to see and hear the 

 utterers. 



When I approached the spot where the birds were, they 

 were immediately silent, but shortly after I saw on a rock 

 some distance away, and one which I could not approach, a 

 brown bird with pale breast, somewhat like a Garden-Warbler. 

 I could not, however, be sure that this was the bird whose notes 

 attracted me, though I think it was. 



Near the Grimsel I also observed a Rock Thrush descending 

 singing with uplifted wings close to the Todten See, " Lake of 

 the Dead." I once had a similar experience on the Pilatus 

 Kulm. Some distance above Grindelwald was the only place 

 where I noted the Meadow-Pipit, and, at Interlaken only, the 

 Serin Finch, but Chaffinches and Redpolls were extraordinarily 

 numerous. 



At the hotel on the top of the Furka Pass I found the House- 

 Martins nesting, and circling at a great height in the air at an 



* Mi'. Warde Fowler suggests a Wheatear. 



