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 (Gypaetus 

 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 jagers 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 (Twliodroma 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 



