the Birds of Transylvania. 191 



of the reed-beds. And above all the many wild-bird cries 

 which we heard, the loud croaking of innumerable frogs, 

 like the musical throbbing notes of a large ^olian harp, 

 was ever present. 



Turning to the land, we found the vineyards on the slopes, 

 and the little isolated clumps and belts of wood (few and far 

 between^ like the oases of the desert) full of life ; and birds 

 are more easily found in these small woods than in the great 

 oak-, beach-, or pine-tracts nearer to the mountains. Golden 

 Orioles, Nightingales, and Turtledoves vied with one another 

 in waking the echoes ; and the warblings of the Blackcap and, 

 more rarely, of its relation the Barred Warbler were occa- 

 sionally heard. In the vineyards and fruit-gardens Gold- 

 finches and Shrikes were the most conspicuous species ; and 

 in the meadows in the valleys the " whit, whit-whit " of the 

 Quail was constantly heard ; and the Crested Lark and the 

 common Bunting tripped along the dusty roads or perched on 

 the low bushes around. Thus it will be seen that the Mezoseg 

 is rich in bird-life as in flowers ; but the heat is great at mid- 

 summer, and the water is almost poisonous. The ornitho- 

 logist collecting there will do well to escape, as we did, to- 

 wards the mountains before the great heat sets in. 



Our next station was at Gorgeny Szent Imri, in Szekler 

 Land, amidst old forests of primeval oak of great extent, once 

 the haunt of the wild aurochs, but now tenanted by long- 

 horned tame white cattle, and by herds of wiry little horses, 

 the property of the villagers. Description cannot do justice 

 to these glorious old oak trees. It is not their height that 

 is remarkable, but their great girth and their giant branches, 

 knotted and twisted into every curious and fantastic shape. 

 These grand old trees stand on a slightly marshy park -like pla- 

 teau, a few feet above the level of the valley of Gorgeny, and 

 are in some places from thirty to forty yards apart, giving to 

 the forest the appearance of an old English park on a great 

 scale. In many instances age and decay have been assisted in 

 hollowing out the great gaunt stems by the axes of the wood- 

 men when seeking fuel for their camp-fires. Thus great 

 caverns are formed, large enough to give shelter to half a 



