IN TRANSYLVANIA. \ 567 
the birds that I certainly expected, while the rich field for 
study which the Alpine fauna of Central Europe opens up to 
the wandering ornithologist is non-existent in these eastern 
regions. 
To this unfortunately rather meagre account of my summer 
excursion to the Alps of Transylvania I will add a few notes 
on what I saw during the autumn in the central part of the 
country. 
From the railway-station at Maros-Vasarhely I drove along 
a good road up the great valley of the Maros to Szdsz-Regen. 
Both right and left were the well-tilled fields of the broad 
vale, which was enclosed by the gentle slopes of a slightly 
wooded chain of hills. Of ornithological interest there was 
nothing. Hooded Crows, Rooks, and Jackdaws were very 
abundant, and there were a few Magpies and some very occa- 
sional Turtle-Doves. J also saw several Red-backed Shrikes 
(Lanius collurio), although it was already the 21st of 
September ; two days later, however, they had quite disap- 
peared. Of the other small birds there were only the com- 
monest kinds. At Szasz-Regen our road turned eastwards 
into a neighbouring valley, and we soon reached Gérgény 
Szt. Imre, the end of our journey. 
The districts through which I now rambled for fourteen 
days may be divided into two strongly marked types of 
country. First, the low but steep chain of hills reaching down 
to the valley of the Maros, all of which are clothed with almost 
impenetrable deciduous woods, formed partly of stunted trees 
and partly of young covers, here and there broken by little mea- 
dows on which wild fruit-trees grow luxuriantly. Secondly, 
the sharply defined regions of the higher wooded mountains, 
with their long lofty ridges and their many square miles of 
uninterrupted virgin forests, consisting of beeches with 
a very slight admixture of conifers. Through the broad 
valley flows the Gérgény, a clear mountain-stream well 
