320 BIRD-HUNTING 



in his fifteen days' expedition is only twenty hours 

 by steamer from Budapest. 



Of the Fruska-gora I can say nothing, for it is too 

 remote from the river ; but of the other places I 

 fear that an ornithologist rash enough to visit them 

 expecting to find Sea Eagles, Black Storks, and 

 Ospreys would be doomed to disappointment. It is 

 possible, of course, that a few birds may still exist 

 in the more remote parts, and in the solitudes of the 

 marshy woods and islands, but it would be quite 

 hopeless to expect to find them in the abundance of 

 thirty years ago. The Osprey, indeed, constantly 

 mentioned by the Crown Prince as being found on 

 the Danube everywhere in great abundance, is now 

 very rare. Why, I do not know, but I failed to see 

 this bird at all ; and though I made inquiries about 

 it wherever I went, nobody seemed to know any- 

 thing of it. One would think that in the solitudes of 

 the immense district of the Dobrudscha, where all 

 the conditions seem favourable to its habits, it would 

 find congenial hunting-grounds and nesting-places, 

 but such is not the case. Even in the lagoons of 

 Albania, where birds are absolutely unmolested by 

 the inhabitants, I never saw one, and Herr Reiser 

 informed me that it was extremely rare in Bosnia 

 and the surrounding countries. 



Though I kept a good look-out during this voyage 

 up the river — it was, in fact, all I had to do to pass 



