lie watched one for about a quarter of an hour on one of the
highest Welsh mountains, most admirably refraining from
shooting it or even mentioning the fact to his guide.
The Alpine Accentor is not uncommon in the mountainous
parts of Central and Southern Europe, especially
the Alps and Pyrenees, frequenting the higher elevations
during summer, hut seeking the valleys in winter. As a
straggler, it has been observed in Heligoland and near
Antwerp. In Germany, according to Dr. Borggreve, it is a
semi-migrant in the brushwood-regions of the Silesian mountains.
Dr. Zawadzki states that it breeds at a height of
above 4,000 feet in the Central Carpathians and in Bukovina,
but Herr Jeitteles says it is rare in Upper Hungary.
Whether it occurs in the Russian dominions cannot be stated,
for though Dr. von Middendorff says he obtained it 011 the
Sea of Ochotsk, Mr. Swinhoe refers the specimens to a
distinct species. De Filippi observed it on Demavend, and
this is the most eastern locality which can be at present
with certainty assigned to it. Col. Drummond-Hay says
that it breeds in Crete, where he saw it, but only amongst
the snow of the Sfakiati range. Lord Lilford found it in
E p iru s; and Yon der Muhle and Dr. Lindermayer give it as
occurring on the mainland of Greece, though unknown in the
islands—the latter believing it to be resident, and to breed
among the mountains. I t also inhabits Italy, and is occasionally
met with in Sicily. In Sardinia it would seem to
occur more regularly. I t is said to be common in Southern
Spain, and occurs, though rarely, in Portugal.
The food of this species consists of insects and berries,
and in winter of small seeds, some of which are said to give
its flesh a peculiar flavour.
This bird does not frequent bushes, nor perch 011 trees;
but is almost always observed to be on rocks or on the
ground, and is remarkable for its constant tameness, being
apparently regardless of man. This disposition has been
noticed in nearly all the examples seen in this country, for
they allowed observers to approach unusually close to them,
and when at last obliged to move, made very short flights.
The birds at Cambridge and Wells may have been attracted
by the high stone buildings, which might seem to the
wanderers the best substitute for their own native crags within
reach. The Alpine Accentor builds in May among stones,
or in cavities of rocks, and sometimes in the roofs of houses,
on the mountain-sides. The nest is formed of rootlets, grass,
moss and wool, and lined with hair. The eggs are four to six
in number, of a fine light greenisli-blue, measuring from P04
to -9 by from '66 to "62 in. The vignette at the end of this
article represents the nest, slightly altered from the figure in
Schinz’s work on the nests and eggs of Swiss Birds (pi. 21).
The bill is black at the tip, and yellowish-wliite at the
base ; the irides hazel: head, neck and ear-coverts, brownish-
grey ; back brown, streaked with darker blackish-brown;
rump greyish-brown; primaries blackish-brown, the middle
of each tertial still darker, edged on both sides with reddish-
brown, and tipped with dull white; wing-coverts reddish-
brown, varied with black, and tipped with white; tail above
dark brown, tipped with buff: chin and throat dull white,
with a small black spot on each feather; chest dark grey;
breast and flanks varied with chestnut- coloured patches:
lower tail-coverts dark greyish-brown, edged with dull white ;
tail beneath ash-grey, tipped with dull buffy-white : legs and
toes orange-brown ; claws black.
Length of the bird described six inches and a half. From
the carpal joint of the wing to the end of the third and
longest primary three inches and five-eighths: the second
feather longer than the fourth.
The females do not differ in plumage from the males,
except that their colours are not so bright. The young are
said to have the spots on the throat hardly perceptible, but
the red of the wing-coverts more vivid.
The genus Accentor has been very generally accepted by
ornithologists, though many of them are at a loss whether it
should be better placed in the Family Turdidce (01* Merulidce
as some will have it) or in the Family Sylviidee, and the
group has been almost as often assigned to the one as to the
other. This fact, with many others that could be cited, fur