AN ORNITHOLOGIST ON THE DANUBE. 559 



form such a close roof of leaves, that only a much-broken reflection 

 of the sun's rays trembles on the ground. In addition to the night- 

 ingale, which is everywhere abundant, the songsters of this forest 

 are the song-thrush and blackbird, golden oriole and red-breast, 

 chaflinch and wood- wren; the cuckoo calls its spring greeting from 

 hill to hill; black and green woodpeckers, nut-hatches and titmice, 

 ring-doves and stock-doves may be heard in all directions. 



We had come here chiefly to hunt the largest European bird 

 of prey, the black vulture, Fruskagora being apparently the 

 northern boundary of its breeding region. The other large 

 European vulture had recently appeared in the district, probably 

 attracted by the unfortunate victims of the Servian war, and both 

 species brooded here protected by the lord of the estate, who was 

 an enthusiastic naturalist. I was already acquainted with both 

 these species of vulture, for I had seen them on former journeys, 

 but it was a great pleasure to me to observe them in their brooding- 

 place, and hear the reports of my fellow-sportsmen and of Count 

 Chotek; for on this expedition also our main desire was to increase 

 our knowledge of animal life. Here again we were able to make a 

 long series of observations, and many aspects of the life of both 

 these giant birds, which had hitherto been obscure to us all, were 

 cleared up and explained by our investigations. 



The crested black vulture, whose range of distribution is not 

 confined to the three southern peninsulas of Europe, but extends 

 also through West and Central Asia, to India and China, is resi- 

 dent in Fruskagora, but after the brooding season he frequently 

 makes long expeditions, which bring him regularly to Northern 

 Hungary, and frequently to Moravia, Bohemia, and Silesia. His 

 powerful wings enable him to undertake such expeditions without 

 the slightest difficulty. Unfettered by eggs or helpless young, he 

 flies early in the morning from the tree on which he has passed the 

 night, ascends spirally to a height to which the human eye unaided 

 cannot follow him, then with his incomparably keen, mobile eye, 

 whose focal distance can be rapidly altered, he scans the horizon, 

 detects unfailingly even small carrion, and alights to devour and 

 digest it, or to store it in his crop. After feeding he returns to 



