48 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
scientific purposes decorated the place. My two Sea-Hagles 
were at once laid beside them, and we had the rare good for- 
tune of standing by a row of five eagles. My brother-in-law 
had killed two very large ones, and severely wounded another. 
He had also brought for the menagerie which we were going 
to form on deck three young eagles from the nest, tolerably 
large, but still in down. 
The third bird, also a grand specimen, had been bagged 
by Homeyer ; but Brehm and Bombelles had been unlucky at 
the nests, especially the latter, who had made the acquaintance 
of a very suspicious eagle, which the keepers said Baron 
Schloissnigg had some weeks ago fired at with small shot 
while it was at its nest. This probably occurred during the 
Woodcock-shooting. All the eagles we had killed were 
very old birds, having the fully-mature pale brownish-yellow 
plumage and light yellow beak and feet indicative of great 
age, 
While the men were busy putting our booty and effects on 
board the ‘Vienna,’ Brehm lured a Cuckoo, which was calling 
near us, in the most scientific way, and so deceived the poor 
fellow that it allowed itself to be enticed out of the wood to 
the fishermen’s huts, where it circled over the heads of the 
large assemblage of people, and I fired a shot which brought 
it dead to the ground. 
After this short interlude we took leave of the Land 
Steward, and embarked on board the ‘ Vienna,’ again followed 
by the ‘ esikeln.” 
We now went rapidly down-stream through the most 
splendid forests ; right and left were thick woods of willows 
and silver poplars with low drooping branches, and from time 
to time we got slight glimpses into these ‘‘auen” at the junc- 
tions of the channels. Purple and Grey Herons often flew over 
our heads, and a whole flock of marsh-birds, variously deter- 
mined by us as Ibises, Purple Herons or Night-Herons, were 
