342 
BIRD-LIFE. 
bold relief against the bright blue heavens and brilliant 
green of the meadows, and one must allow that this 
specimen of bird-life in the swamp is a most lovely 
sight.” 
These immense breeding-places may be seen from a 
great distance. The noble oaks, elms, planes, and silver 
poplars, on the islands of the Danube, have all the 
appearance of woods decked with flowers by a fairy hand. 
Those living blossoms glistening among the dark-green 
leaves like gigantic roses are all birds, with which the top 
of the tree is thickly crowned ! 
Landbeck gives the following description of one of 
these breeding-places :—“ The true Heron colony is to be 
found on a densely-timbered peninsula, lying between two 
swamps. It is about 900 paces long by 100 broad; most 
of the trees stand in from two to three feet of water, and 
the whole is surrounded with thick belts of sedge and 
reeds, interspersed with willow. The ground, grass, and 
low bushes were, at the time we visited the island, so 
covered with the excreta of these birds as to resemble a 
mass of snow at a distance; round about the trees the 
earth was strewn with broken egg-shells, rotten fish, 
dead birds, debris of nests and other filth ; and the stench 
in the neighbourhood of this place rendered our stay 
almost unbearable. Amongst the bushes in the marsh 
were a number of young Night Herons (Nycticorax 
europceus ) running about, which had either fallen out of, 
or been driven from, their nests; these were carefully 
tended and fed by their parents. At our approach a 
number of old birds rose from the dismal swamp, where 
they had been seeking for food, while the youngsters 
turned at bay against our dogs, with loud cries and open 
beaks. We were yet some distance off when we heard a 
