Residence in Vienna. 5809 



range; but early in May, happening" to make an excursion to the very 

 end of the Prater where it skirts the Danube, five miles from the city, 

 I found there, to my great surprise, a very extensive rookery, in which 

 the young birds were just ready to leave the nest-trees; although up 

 to this time I had looked in vain for a single rook. But the rook is 

 migratory in central Europe, so that it may have been that they really 

 were absent up to the beginning of March ; still that would not 

 account for my not having seen one during the months of March and 

 April. 



The Danube, at the extremity of the Prater, is a fine field for the 

 ornithologist; and a journey of a few miles from Vienna on either 

 side reveals ornithological scenes of the greatest interest. The navi- 

 gation of the Danube is very difficult at certain seasons, owing to the 

 shallowness of the water, which leaves numerous small barren islets, 

 either sandy and bare or covered with osiers, &c. These islets are 

 the resort of numberless wild fowl. Ducks of various kinds dart over 

 one's head at every half-dozen yards of progress, and wild geese are 

 in considerable abundance. I have seen as many as 150 of these 

 latter birds suddenly rise within a furlong, and, hurriedly forming one 

 long, irregular line, scour away to a more secluded spot, — a sight not 

 easily forgotten. Besides wild-fowl, also, numerous flocks of Grail ae, 

 as ring plovers, dotterels, sandpipers, lapwings, &c, may be seen 

 busily feeding in the soft mud, and the sandy islets are sometimes en- 

 tirely black with thousands of rooks and jackdaws, while here and 

 there one is occupied by a score of herons, which, standing motion- 

 less, like sentinels, a few yards apart, would almost be passed by un- 

 observed. All alike are intent upon reaping the harvest of food which 

 the retreating waters leave upon these apparently barren tracts. 



The hawfinch [Fringilla coccothraustes) is by no means uncommon 

 in the Prater, as well as in other situations, as the immediate vicinity 

 of Schonbrunn for example. These birds I often observed, and was 

 struck with the absence of that wildness and shyness described by 

 Yarrell and Doubleday as pertaining to our British individuals. The 

 first one I saw, indeed, soon after my arrival, being of course an inte- 

 resting event, I watched for a considerable time perched on a bough 

 a little distance above my head ; and finally, desiring to see him on 

 the wing, I cried out and clapped my hands in vain, for he did not 

 care to stir. They may usually be seen feeding around the roots of 

 the elms, and on a near approach they fly up one by one, in a per- 

 fectly straight line, into a neighbouring tree. They are quiet birds, 

 and delight in woodland spots ; and I often detected their presence 

 xv. 3 o 



