THROUGH WILD EUROPE 181 



nesting- boxes in the spring and feeding- tables 

 during the winter months. 



Last February a Wall-Creeper (Trichodroma 

 murarid) was seen daily on the rocks on the Buda 

 side of the Danube, no doubt having been driven 

 from its mountain home by the heavy snow then 

 prevailing everywhere throughout Europe. The 

 Danube was then almost blocked by great masses 

 of ice floating down the turgid current, which was 

 nearly up to the level of the embankments. On these 

 blocks of ice were many Goosanders, Smews, and 

 Red-throated Divers, and it was interesting in the 

 extreme to be able to watch these birds in the middle 

 of a large city. 



Later in the year there were immense numbers of 

 Sparrows roosting in the bushes in the squares. 

 There must have been thousands of them, and when 

 bed-time arrived the chattering was almost deafening. 



And if birds are plentiful in Hungary, ornitholo- 

 gists and field observers are also numerous. There 

 is even a Government department, or bureau, the 

 Ungarische Ornithologische Centrale, established for 

 the express purpose of determining the economic 

 value of birds. Among other methods, the contents 

 of the stomachs of the various birds are examined 

 scientifically, and records kept of the proportion of 

 insect, vegetable, or animal food devoured by them 

 at different seasons of the year, and in different 



