564 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 
I also observed a few stray Rock-Doves (Columba livia), and 
heard the cries of the Great Black Woodpecker (Picus mar- 
tius) and the Jay (Garrulus glandarius), while the deep 
silence of the coniferous woods was somewhat enlivened by 
the Ring-Ouzels (Turdus torquatus), which were pretty com- 
mon, as well as by the Chaffinches (Fringilla calebs) and the 
Bramblings (F. montifringilla), the latter, singularly enough, 
being in somewhat large flocks. 
At the upper verge of the spruces, and especially among 
the Siberian cedars, the Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) 
is always to be found, but never abundantly ; and on the 
alpine meadows, among the creeping pines, there were plenty 
of Water-Pipits (Anthus aquaticus) and also a few Wheatears 
(Sazicola enanthe); while in both the very high-lying conife- 
rous woods and the region of the creeping pines I saw a good 
many Missel-Thrushes (Turdus viscivorus) and some Caper- 
caillies (Tetrao urogallus), but only cocks, which in the 
breeding-season are reported to take up their quarters at 
a lower elevation. 
I must here say a few words about the Transylvanian 
Capercaillie, in the hope of attracting the attention of other 
observers and naturalists to this interesting bird. 
It is much smaller and also somewhat darker than the 
Capercaillie of Central Hurope, the difference being so great 
that one notices it even when it is flying ; and a Bohemian 
keeper who accompanied me mistook a cock of this species 
for a Blackcock, a bird that never occurs:in the Transylvanian 
Alps. My belief that it is really a very striking variety is 
not, however, founded on casual glimpses of it in the woods, 
but on an examination of stuffed specimens, both cocks and 
hens, which have been killed on the Retyezat. 
From the information that I obtained from the most 
enthusiastic of the Transylvanian sportsmen concerning the 
amours of this little Tetrao urogalloides, for such I consider 
