FIFTH DAY. 73 
third—this being evidently a particularly good spot for 
fishing. 
After a while we came to swampy flooded meadows, where 
our road again ran along a high embankment. There great 
numbers of Coots were swimming about on both sides, 
although there were no reeds to give them cover; while 
Herons stood pensively in the water, and both Black and 
Common Terns were busy fishing. Starlings and Wagtails, 
too, were running about among the herds of cattle and 
horses which were grazing on the banks, and a White Stork 
was heavily winging its way towards the neighbouring 
village. 
A little way in front of us we saw a steep unbroken rise of 
uniform height—the first elevation of the surface of the 
country above the level of the Danube. On the brow of this 
slope stood a large village of the true Hungarian and some- 
what primitive type ; and when we got up to it the road led 
us past its outskirts into a long straight avenue of acacias. 
There we observed a large forest about a thousand yards 
ahead of us; and on my asking whether this was the “ Kes- 
kendi erdé,”” the coachman, a true Magyar, only answered 
with a silent nod. So this was the celebrated Keskend 
Wood, which was to be our shooting-ground of to-day. 
Black Storks were flying from it to the fields, and they were 
the first that I had ever seen. This large bird, when it is on 
the wing, and its colours are lost in the distance, cannot be 
distinguished from the Common Stork. There were also 
some Bustards standing in the fields of young corn ; while 
Cuckoos and Kestrels, frightened by the carriages, flew from 
tree to tree in the acacia avenue, and a beautiful Hobby had 
the impudence to seize and carry off a poor Wagtail quite 
close to us. 
In a few minutes we reached the edge of the wood, our 
road conducting us into a long broad ride, which extended 
