' The crane is a bird often to be seen in this country. They gather together in flocks, amounting to many hundreds; delighting chiefly in marshy ground, over which they stalk gently with light and graceful step, neither experiencing, nor appearing to fear, any molestation.
' The stork also cannot fail, from its novelty, to attract the notice of the English traveller. The first stork's nest I ever saw was at Marienburg, on my way from Berlin to Konigsberg; and, at that season of the year, it was, of course, untenanted. But the stork is held in great reverence by the people among whom it takes up its abode. Much pains are likewise taken to preserve the stork's nest, and encourage the parent birds to return to the spot which they have once selected for hatching and rearing their young. The storks are often very lazy in constructing their nests; and the people consequently help them, by putting up an old harrow, or something of the kind, on the roof of a barn, or the top of some unused chimney, or the branches of a solitary tree. Over this they spread a foundation of hay or straw, and then pile upon it some twigs, or loose sticks, placed across each other, after a rough fashion, to about the height of two feet. This place the storks accept for their nest j and, upon their arrival, will sit for hours, as if resting themselves after the fatigue of a long journey. They will then set about the task of putting the nest into something like order; and, in about a fortnight, if the weather be warm, will begin the work of incubation. The parent birds never both leave the nest at the same time; and the male takes his turn on the eggs as well as the female. They may be seen for hours, with their long bills projecting over the edge of the nest, patiently performing this duty. Nobody ever thinks of disturbing them, there or elsewhere. They may be seen sometimes, three or four in number, striding quietly after the husbandman, as he works away with his bullocks and plough, and securing for themselves a meal from the worms, which the upturned furrows expose to their view.
' It is curious to observe the process by which the storks feed their young. Each parent bird goes away in turn; and, upon its return, stands, for a few seconds, balancing itself upon the edge of the nest; then, throwing back its head with a quick action, it ejects from its crop into the nest some portion of worm or frog which it has picked up; and the young instantly seize upon the same and devour it with avidity. This action of throwing the head back and ejecting the treasured food is repeated, until all the contents of the bird's crop are exhausted. About the middle of September, the storks assemble in large flocks, like the swallows in England, and prepare for their migratory flight to warmer latitudes.
' I have elsewhere described the manner in which the Poles sometimes spear fish at night time, by the aid of fire-light, which they kindle in a grate fixed at the head of their boat, and need not therefore do more in this place than allude to it as one of the modes to which they resort for capturing fish.
' In England I used to be very fond of fly-fishing, and had brought with me a nice light rod, in the hope of meeting, in the streams of this country, with trout and grayling as abundant as those which I had found in some of the affluents of the Rhine. But the hope was not to be fulfilled. As for trout, I was informed that it is found only in one stream in Lithuania. I sometimes caught a few fish like grayling, but smaller and coarser, and of a muddy taste. Indeed, the constant muddiness of almost
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delicacy of the fish, and of the pursuit of the fisherman.
' The pike is the most common fish to be found here, and grows to a very large size in the extensive lakes which abound in the country. The chief revenue, in fact, of some properties, arises from their fisheries, and from the number of their wild fowl. Some of the lakes are four or five miles in circumference, and surrounded in some instances with hundreds of acres, upon which neither man nor beast ever ventures to set foot. The proprietor has to pay as large a tax for this area of marsh and water as for his arable and pasture land, and not without reason; for the great demand for fish, in a country peopled for the most part by Roman Catholics, must make this kind of property very valuable.
* The carp is also found in these lakes, frequently of large size. I saw one brought to table, which weighed upwards of eighteen pounds; and, being stewed with Hungarian wine-sauce, was very palatable.
' The tench is of a more delicate and agreeable flavour than any fish in this country. I have frequently seen them weighing from two to four pounds: and one even reached the weight of eight pounds.