560 ORNITHOL O GICAL SKETCHES 



(Alauda cristata), were all the birds I observed, for the 

 speed at which we were travelling of course prevented my 

 detecting the smaller species. On getting further south, 

 where marshes run through broad valleys bounded by prettily 

 wooded hills, I noticed a few White Storks ( Ciconia alba), one 

 Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), several Larger Spotted 

 Eagles (Aquila clang a), and the above-mentioned Eagles, but 

 more rarely than before. 



The plain of Hatszeg, which was the immediate goal of our 

 journey, is perfectly flat, damp, thickly clothed with vegeta- 

 tion, and intersected by numerous watercourses. On three 

 sides it is surrounded by low but very steep hills, poorly 

 wooded with stunted oaks, and quite bare in parts ; but on 

 the fourth the great mountains of the Transylvanian Alps, 

 and in particular the splendid Retyezat, rise abruptly from 

 the plain and form an imposing background. 



I was obliged to hurry through this plain, which doubtless 

 contains much that is worthy of attention, for time was 

 pressing, and I had to go up into the mountains. My rapidly 

 collected notes can therefore be by no means considered as 

 exhaustive. 



Such very common birds as Sparrows, Larks, Swallows, 

 Common Buntings, White Wagtails, &c. were extremely 

 abundant; but I unfortunately could not devote myself to the 

 numerous and probably interesting small species with which 

 the luxuriant meadows and field-woods of this little-known 

 district are doubtless stocked. 



At the castle where we lived I found a pair of Lesser 

 Kestrels (Falco cencliris), and every evening there was an 

 assemblage of Magpies in the garden such as I had never 

 before seen. For a whole half-hour they came flying up to the 

 thick bushes from all sides, arriving singly but in uninter- 

 rupted succession, and soon hundreds were congregated 

 within a small space of not more than a hundred yards long 



