The next day I resolved to try whether the Grimsel Pass, the second principal opening from the north through the great barrier, would show us anything new; but in this project I was disappointed, for rain and intense cold came on, which drove me down to Meiringen and deprived me of any opportunity of further observation. And here, as I write, the sun has once more broken through the clouds, a bracing north wind blows, the mountains above us are covered with fresh snow, the trees are beginning to lose their summer green, the cow-bells are ringing in the valley instead of upon the alps, and alpine autumn is here in all its health and beauty. The hotel is empty, and my only companions are the faithful Anderegg and my host, Herr Willi, now Cabinet Minister of his Canton, who entertains me with discourse of the history of the Haslithal, the antiquities of which he has been the first to explore. Some summer birds are still here; the Chiff-chaff for a single moment uttered its voice outside the window by which I write. The Robins are in fair abundance, and a few will stay in the valley, where the cold is not greater than in our own climate, throughout the winter. A walk this morning showed us the House-martin, the Crag-martin, and a single individual of the numerous Alpine Swifts, which in the summer haunt the gigantic precipices that frown upon the valley.
We have seen how the Swallow-tribe departs from the Alps, and have also learnt something of the movements and migration of other birds; but I have still to discover in which direction the tenderer birds, the various members of the tribe of warblers, find a way to their southern winter home. I can hardly believe that they can traverse the wild and shelterless mountain passes with their short wings and fragile bodies; yet in the long sea voyages which they make they are no less at the mercy of the elements than they would be when in the jaws of the most savage defile of the St. Gotthard.
While I have been fortunate in seeing so much in the course of a very few days, it is obvious that much remains to be discovered, and that future visits to Switzerland, whether in spring or autumn, may not be without their reward; for I have little doubt that there is no European region where the peculiar conditions of temperature, and the extraordinary variety of food, are so likely to produce abnormal effects on the living population—effects which as yet are perhaps comparatively little understood. I feel that my hastily collected information is but a single item in the vast repertory of material which stands ready to the hand of any one whose fortune may send him here at the right time, and with the requisite qualifications. Many Englishmen now pass the Alps in spring by way of the St. Gotthard railway on their return from Italy and the Riviera; if among these there be any that are curious about birds, let them halt for a day or two on each side of the pass, and learn what they can of the arrival of migrants from the south. And let me add, that any occupation which brings a foreigner into close contact with the more intelligent Swiss, especially at a time when they are not hard driven by the touring world of all nations, will give new life and interest to even the shortest visit to a country whose history and institutions are as wonderful as its scenery, or as its animal and vegetable life. We are apt to think of the Swiss as a self-seeking people, whose only object is to make capital out of the natural beauties of the extraordinary land they live in. But this is not a happy impeachment in the mouth of Englishmen, who know so well how to make the best of their own resources, and who have contributed not a little to stimulate the ardour of the Swiss for gain and speculation. He who would really know the peasant of the Alps must see him in his natural state, struggling hard against adversity, heavily taxed for education and improvements, loving labour and doing it cheerfully; a human being wrestling hard with Nature, who yields her wealth for him with a very sparing hand, while she lavishes upon the birds that live around him untold abundance and endless resource.