IN TRANSYLVANIA. 561 



by fifty broad, where they were screaming and quarrelling 

 for the best roosting-places. Not far from this spot an 

 equally large number of Hooded Crows assembled to sleep 

 together on three tall poplars in the middle of the village of 

 Szt. Maria Boldogfalva. 



On the banks of the stream I saw the Grey Wagtail 

 (Motacilla sulphured) ; and among the fields Quail were 

 calling everywhere, some of which I flushed, and on August 

 7th I killed a bird of the year full-grown and in perfect 

 plumage. 



On the stubble-fields I saw an extraordinary number of 

 Lesser Spotted Eagles (Aquila ncevid) and also some of the 

 Larger Spotted (A. clangci). These birds allowed us not 

 only to drive but even to walk close past them, and in this 

 way I shot an old specimen of the former. 



A few Common Kites and Kestrels, one Common Buz- 

 zard, one Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), Great Grey 

 Shrikes (Lanius excubitor), Red-backed Shrikes (L. col- 

 lurio), Turtle-Doves (Turtur auritus), and Hoopoes (Upupa 

 epops) complete the list of the birds that I noticed while 

 driving over the plain. 



Near Malomviz, at the foot of the high mountains, I laid 

 out a carcass as a future bait for eagles or vultures ; but as I 

 came down to the plain from the highest regions of the 

 Retyezat for just a single day, I had little time to visit 

 the decoy-hut, and only spent two hours there, vainly waiting 

 for the appearance of birds of prey. Just as we were leaving 

 the place, however, and were only a few hundred yards from 

 the carrion, a very large Griffon Vulture ( Vulturfulvus) flew 

 over our heads, and we saw in the distance an eagle, which 

 we could not manage to identify. 



I must now preface my remarks on the Transylvanian Alps, 

 the special region that we explored, by a short description of 

 their leading features. 



2o 



