localities of the Italian Alps and Pyrenees, and one in a
marsh near Larnaca. I had very favourable opportunities,
however, for observation of its habits, during a
stay of some days, in the early summer of 1867, at the
hydropathic establishment at Panticosa, in Aragon, at
which place we arrived before the regular bathing-season
had set in, in fact, we were the first visitors of the year,
and the huge hotel with its 800 beds was, as the manager
informed us, i completely at our disposition with everything
that it contained.” The building stands on a small
stone-strewn plateau at the head of the valley of Tena,
and is, according to the hand-books, about 8000 feet
above sea-level j a small lake or tarn lies within a short
distance of the front of the building, and the space of
flat ground that lay between them was, at the time
above-mentioned, the abode of two or three pairs of
Alpine Pipits. My attention was first attracted to them
by their note, which is sharper and more sibilant than
that of the Tree-Pipit—the species of this family with
which I am best acquainted; it is considerably more
powerful than that of the Meadow-Pipit, to which it,
however, has a close resemblance.
These Alpine Pipits have but a poor song, which, in
the case to which I am referring, was generally uttered
from the top of a stone, or during a short hovering
flight; on the ground their actions seemed to us very
like those of the Tree-Pipit. I could not find a nest,
though there must have been at least two, probably
more, under the huge stones that lay singly or in piled
masses on the little grassy plain; the birds were
decidedly wary, and evidently very cautious about
approaching their nests. Some eggs, which probably
belonged to this species, were brought to me by a lad,
but all he could tell me about them was that he had
found them on the ground, and that they were laid by
a “ pajarita,”—an undoubted fact, which, as my readers
will admit, was hardly sufficient to entitle them to a
place in my egg-collection.