38 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
I should be glad if my pen could give the reader even a 
slight idea of the marvellous scenes which here stamped them- 
selves so indelibly on my memory. The landscape was the 
more interesting from the picturesqueness of the vegetation, 
for open expanses of water alternated with great forests of 
reeds, half submerged thickets, and clumps of tail silver 
poplars, oaks, willows, and elms ; fallen stems lay with their 
highest parts out of the water, and dead oaks, black poplars, 
and wild fruit-trees stood isolated among the rustling reed- 
beds. All was flooded, and a gentle breeze played over the 
ripples and the rich verdure in which this exuberant vege- 
tation was decked. Little Grebes, Ducks, and Moorhens 
flapped up in front of us. The latter are the characteristic 
birds of all these “‘auen,” and their incessant cries, mingled 
with the croaking of countless frogs, made a deafening noise. 
Here I everywhere found Marsh-Harriers, Hooded Crows, 
Cuckoos, Wood-Pigeons, and Stock-Doves, and also some of 
their nests; but it was not until we had penetrated a long 
way into this wilderness that I saw two majestic Sea-Hagles 
flying low over the water, and observed one of them settle on 
a dead tree not far off, its yellowish plumage glistening in the 
sun. After half an hour’s rowing we gradually came into a 
drier district, some patches of unsubmerged wood appeared, 
and on one of them I saw from afar the first Sea-Hagle’s 
eyrie, situated upon a tall, very thin, and branchless black 
poplar. It was a huge strong structure, and any one who 
had never seen an eagle’s nest before would have thought it 
incredibly large. 
Stepping cautiously into the * csikel,’’? which Ferencz was 
working, Hodek and I approached the tree, our boat remain- 
ing behind hidden in the sedge, for we had to cross an open 
sheet of water, succeeded by a tract of thick reeds, before we 
got to the narrow tongue of land on which the nest stood. 
Propelled by quiet strokes of the paddle the “ csikel”’ 
