2 7 
Birds of the Upper Engadine. 
known to Naumann, our knowledge of it is meagre in the 
extreme. All my efforts to discover it failed until the 14th 
of August, when our party ascended the Pitz Lunghino 
(9120 feet) in order to trace the Inn to its source. Por 
the first thousand feet above the Maloja the Pipits and Black 
Beds tarts were the commonest birds, but after we had passed 
above the last stunted bush and had nearly reached the 
gentian and soldanella ground, an unfamiliar note caught my 
ear, a rich liquid chich, ich , ich , ich , as gurgling as the note 
of the Lark. I soon caught sight of the bird perched upon 
a rock, scarcely to be distinguished at a distance from an 
Alpine Pipit. My first thought was that it must be one of 
those birds making a feeble effort to sing; but in a short time 
the bird came much nearer, and began to hop about, some¬ 
times on the short grass, but more often on the rocks. The 
fact of its hopping like a Robin, instead of running like a 
Wagtail, proved that it could not be a Pipit; but fortunately 
it possessed one habit in common with that bird, namely, 
a propensity to indulge its curiosity. We sat quite still, 
and presently it flew to a rock not more than thirty feet 
from us, where its rich chestnut flanks could be seen with¬ 
out glasses. It was exceedingly tame and did not seem 
at all alarmed at our presence, though it was apparently 
watching us. A writer quoted by Naumann says that the 
Alpine Accentor does not hop but runs. This is unques¬ 
tionably a mistake. There can be no doubt whatever that 
its favourite mode of progression is a hop : I made a note of 
the fact in my pocket-book in the presence of the bird itself; 
thus one of the alleged discrepancies between its habits and 
those of its cousin, our common Hedge-Sparrow, was dis¬ 
posed of. Another alleged fact respecting the Alpine Ac¬ 
centor is that it ducks its head and jerks up its tail every 
time it utters its note, after the manner of the Chats. The 
fact also that it lays blue eggs, like the Chats, suggested a 
relationship to those birds. The alleged fact is, however, a 
myth. I heard the Alpine Accentor utter its note at least 
fifty times, and I could perceive nothing of the habit alluded 
to. On the other hand, the Black Redstart (which, with its 
