FIFTEEN DAYS 
oN 
THE DANUBE. 
FIRST DAY. 
——4+—__. 
Earty in the month of April 1878 I determined to under- 
take a shooting-expedition to those districts of the Lower 
Danube which lie within the boundaries of the Monarchy. 
This was not the first time that I had thought of exploring 
these beautiful tracts of country so little known to travellers, 
and of rambling through them, gun in hand, studying their 
ornithology. 
Years ago Zelebor had extended his collecting journeys 
for the State Natural-History Museum to these localities; 
and the well-known naturalist Hodek makes a yearly spring 
trip down the Danube to Southern Hungary, Slavonia, and 
often as far as the Dobrudscha, to work mines so extremely 
productive to the ornithologist and the sportsman. For 
though they lie within such easy reach of capitals like 
Vienna and Pest, these wilds offer to the lover of nature 
the most marvellous scenery, and to the naturalist a fresh 
field and ample materials for his studies. 
B 
