564 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 



I also observed a few stray Rock-Doves (Coluniba /ma), and 

 heard the cries of the Great Black Woodpecker (Picus mar- 

 tins) and the Jay (Garrulus glandarius), while the deep 

 silence of the coniferous woods was somewhat enlivened by 

 the Ring-Ouzels {Turdus torquatus), which were pretty com- 

 mon, as well as by the Chaffinches (FrinaiUa ccelebs) and the 

 Bramblings (F. montifringilla) , the latter, singularly enough, 

 being in somewhat large flocks. 



At the upper verge of the spruces, and especially among 

 the Siberian cedars, the Nutcracker (Nudfraga caryocatactes) 

 is always to be found, but never abundantly ; and on the 

 alpine meadows, among the creeping pines, there were plenty 

 of Water-Pipits (Anthus aquaticus) and also a few Wheatears 

 (Saxicola cenanthe); while in both the very high-lying conife- 

 rous woods and the region of the creeping pines I saw a good 

 many Missel-Thrushes (Turdus viscivorus) and some Caper- 

 caillies (Tetrao urogallus), but only cocks, which in the 

 breeding-season are reported to take up their quarters at 

 a lower elevation. 



I must here say a few words about the Transylvanian 

 Capercaillie, in the hope of attracting the attention of other 

 observers and naturalists to this interesting bird. 



It is much smaller and also somewhat darker than the 

 Capercaillie of Central Europe, the difference being so great 

 that one notices it even when it is flying ; and a Bohemian 

 keeper who accompanied me mistook a cock of this species 

 for a Blackcock, a bird that never occurs in the Transylvanian 

 Alps. My belief that it is really a very striking variety is 

 not, however, founded on casual glimpses of it in the woods, 

 but on an examination of stuffed specimens, both cocks and 

 hens, which have been killed on the Retyezat. 



From the information that I obtained from the most 

 enthusiastic of the Transylvanian sportsmen concerning the 

 amours of this little Tetrao urogalloides, for such I consider 



