SECOND DAY. 13 
selves, off the trees, and circled over them with hoarse cries. 
A few Night-Herons joined them, at first fluttering through 
the branches with owl-like flight, then soaring up higher 
and higher till they swept round with almost imperceptible 
movements of their wings, looking nearly pure white against 
the dark blue sky; while Rooks, Hooded Crows, Black Kites, 
and various small birds flew about in alarmed confusion. 
The island is rather large and the scenery, thanks to the 
luxuriance of the vegetation, may be called very pretty. Its 
upper part consists of a wood of very high silver poplars 
mixed with a few solitary oaks, and along the river-side I 
also found some gnarled old willows, while the undergrowth 
is formed partly of dense bush and partly of high grass and 
nettles. 
Almost through the middle of this wood ran a small 
dried-up arm of the river, with pools of water standing in 
some of its deeper parts and a thick growth of reeds and all 
sorts of water-plants surrounding the damper spots. 
We found a good many nests, but unfortunately all 
occupied by Grey Herons except two, in which Night- 
Herons were breeding. ' Former descriptions had led me 
to conceive quite a wrong idea of this heronry, and I had 
made certain of finding many more birds and a greater 
variety of species. 
The colonies in the “auen”’ below Vienna are almost 
as well stocked with Grey Herons, though, there are no 
Night-Herons, Adony being in that respect ahead of our 
woods; but in character the two districts are alike, for in 
both the marvellous luxuriance of the foliage, the dense 
undergrowth, and the high silver poplars are almost iden- 
tical ; and the “auen” of Adony resemble much more those 
of Lower Austria than those either at Draueck or still further 
down the river near the junction of the Theiss. 
At our first shots a keeper came hurrying up, who told us 
