Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
196 Phylum Vertebrata The bird sat again in 1996, but the breeding was unsuccessful because of bad weather. This was probably the first evidence that the proliferating Austrian population of the species was expanding eastwards (KÁRPÁTI 1997). The expansion is confirmed by recent observations of the eagle owl in the Kőszeg Hills, of which more is said later. Examination of owl casts from nesting sites in Austria has given a clear picture of the eagle owl's diet. The largest number of remains came from the common vole (Microtus arvalis), while the largest proportion of the pellets by weight consisted of remains of the Western hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). Further detail appears in section on mammals. Owlcast examinations also confirmed the assumption that the common vole provides much of the food of the shorteared owl (Asio flammeus) in the Fertő district as well (JÁNOSKA 1992). Ornithological research in Vas County The earliest detailed account of the birdlife of part of Vas County comes in the description of the Őrség in a work by ZAKÁL GYÖRGY NEMESNÉPI (1818): 'Worth mentioning above all are the woodcock or woodland sneff, 55 which come in very large numbers in the autumn and spring, and especially in the spring, when they breed, they call to each other after sundown with whistling and grunting, and flying over the woods and pinewood, give very good sport to the shots standing in wait for them. They are not much found by men in summer; in winter, they hide among the mossy banks and roots of the big woods and there go rigid. Mice often find them and spoil them by starting to eat them. Partridge are also found in many places. There are quail, known here as pittypalatty. 56 There are few corncrakes. The wild doves 57 appear in springtime in great flocks in the meadows and spread to the woods to mate; they move away in winter. The turtle doves are in still great numbers, but these appear only in pairs, after the swallows. Of the woodland birds, mention needs making of the woodpeckers, of which I know several species. The biggest, almost the size of a crow, is the black woodpecker, whose head is blood-red, its bill square, thick and pointed like a chisel, with which it can prise off thick bark. It stays concealed in the thick woods and betrays its presence only with its loud woodcutting. It calls very rarely, with a mew like a cat; however, if it cries high over the woods it signifies a change in the weather, or so the common people think. The yellow woodpecker 58 is likewise a woodpecker species, with green and yellow spotted plumage and a red 55 Commonly known in Hungarian as the erdei szalonka (Scolopax rusticola), it was registered as snyeff in MOLNÁR LAJOS (1935). 56 The common name in Hungarian is fürj (Coturnix cotumix), rendered here as für. 57 Following the assumption of LAJOS MOLNÁR (1935), this is the stock dove (Columba oenas), which nests mainly in upland beech woods. At the time GYÖRGY NEMESNÉPI ZAKÁL was writing, the Őrség was still famous for vast stands of beech that would have provided good nesting terrain. 58 I.e. green woodpecker (Ficus viridis).
