44 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
nest, and therefore quite out of shot-range, we discovered at 
the foot of a tree a small dry spot just large enough to serve 
as a hiding-place for two people if they crouched close to- 
gether. Here Hodek and I sat down covered with leafy 
“ osikeln” to 
branches, while Ferenez hurried away with the 
conceal himself a good way off. Our island was close to the 
edge of the wood, so that we had a clear outlook over the 
open water on one side, while a few hundred paces behind it 
stood a group of trees, most of them dead. 
The gun was now placed beside me ready for use, and a 
cartridge inserted in the rifle, which would here have to play 
the chief part ; and then there began a very interesting time for 
the observer, but a very trying one for the enthusiastic sports- 
man, for through the twigs we frequently saw the eagles, 
which had become very suspicious, and constantly heard their 
shrill cries of anxiety. 
Both birds flew majestically over our heads, now sailing 
slowly along and now darting from one end of the wood to the 
other. Often they sank so low that I could plainly see their 
yellow feet shining in the sun, and the way in which their 
great powerfully-beaked heads were bent downwards, while 
sometimes they mounted to such a height that they looked like 
mere black dots in the sky ; but they never ceased sounding 
their ominous cries, and though the pangs of hunger kept the 
young eagles calling to their parents, the old birds never 
‘ame near the nest until another hour had elapsed. 
At last they ceased to show their mistrust by shrill notes 
of alarm, and dropping into another part of the woods vanished 
from our sight. They had quieted down and gone off after 
plunder, their usual business, and our hopes, which had already 
fallen very low, began to rise again a little. A quarter of an 
hour of perfect quiet had elapsed, when I suddenly heard the 
piercing screams of the eagles, now here and now there, but 
already pretty close to me, while I sometimes saw them pass 
