566 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 
alone, but generally in couples or with their parents, being 
quite remarkably abundant. The Cinereous Vulture was also 
very common; the Griffon Vulture the commonest bird of 
these mountains; and one saw both species everywhere and 
all day long. 
I am glad to say that the Bearded Vulture (Gypactus 
barbatus), the king of the bird-world, still inhabits the 
Retyezdt in considerable numbers, and though in its other 
haunts its days are almost numbered, the extent of our 
Transylvanian Alps, the scantiness of their population, and the 
difficulty of getting about them will make them a safe asylum 
both for this and the other great raptorial birds for a long 
time to come. 
I observed the first Bearded Vulture among the barren 
heights near Lake Zenoga, where I was riding with some 
other gentlemen, when the imposing bird sailed slowly towards 
us, so that I could perfectly well see its black bristly beard 
and the orange-yellow of its plumage—a sign of great age. 
On the same day I also saw two birds of the year in the first 
grey-brown dress, both of which flew close past me ; while a 
fourth, which I noticed just at the edge of the tree-growth, 
was singularly large and in adult but not very deep orange 
feathering. One of my jiigers also found two of them, together 
with several Cinereous and Griffon Vultures, at the carcass of 
a horse which had been killed by a bear during the night. 
The Wall-creeper (Tichodroma muraria), as I have 
learned from pretty trustworthy sources, also occurs in these 
mountains. 
As may be seen from these notes, the district of Retyezat 
is, with the exception of the raptorial birds, poor in species ; 
and in this respect the Transylvanian Alps perfectly agree 
with the other Carpathians. Its primeval forests are, as I 
had many opportunities of observing, strikingly devoid of 
animal life, and even in the loftier regions I did not find 
