146 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
to the dead horse, while we watched the noble birds in the 
greatest state of excitement, even holding in our breath. 
From several years’ experience 1 knew all about shooting 
from a decoy-hut, and in winter I had killed many eagles as 
they sat on the back of a dead deer or horse, and being aware 
how shy these lordly birds of prey are, and how cautiously 
they always approach a decoy-hut, it seemed to me that our 
wretched place of concealment, which only consisted of a few 
leafy branches, was very insufficient. 
Nevertheless the eagles settled themselves near the dead 
horse, one of them close to it, the other only four or five 
yards from our ambush. We had agreed that Leopold should 
shoot at all sorts of eagles except Imperial, as I had not 
killed one of that species; so, as we both took these dark- 
coloured birds for young Imperial Eagles, I quickly put up 
my gun. This movement seemed to have been observed by 
the bird, for it slowly got up and flapped away close to the 
ground, and on my firing both barrels it dropped on the 
opposite side of the meadow hard hit. I quickly hurried out, 
and the eagle rose again; but a third shot brought it down 
into the middle of the adjacent stream, and on pulling it out 
I saw, to my no small disappointment, that, instead of an 
Imperial, I had killed a dark-plumaged Sea-Eagle about two 
years old; so I slipped back into the ambush, and again we 
waited patiently for coming events. 
Two hours passed thus, but far and wide nothing showed 
itself in our neighbourhood ; the heat, too, had already 
become quite unbearable, and numberless flies, attracted by 
the body of the slain bird, were buzzing about us in this 
confined space. By the time it was nine o’clock the amuse- 
ment became rather tedious, and as we also thought that our 
chances during the ensuing hot hours before midday would 
be but poor, we determined to leave our hiding-place, and 
returning by the same path reached our vehicles in about a 
