152 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
heights of Bosnia. On the top of this hill was a shooting- 
lodge, and here we halted, while I got out and, accompanied 
by the head forester, walked a few hundred yards across a 
meadow to a line of still smaller hills beyond it, on the very 
ridge of which stood the Imperial Hagle’s nest which I had 
been told of. 
A little footpath wound right up to it, and along this I 
cautiously stole; but before I got within shot I heard the 
noise made by the bird as it flew away. I now requested 
the forester to go back, that his departure might reassure 
the eagle, while I concealed myself in a hut of branches 
which had been here constructed, but which was unfor- 
tunately too large and too visible. It was a very pretty spot, 
but neither grand nor striking, and the oak tree in which the 
nest was placed seemed particularly low for the stately 
dwelling which it supported on its topmost branches. A 
thick undergrowth of all sorts covered the ground, and the 
mosquitoes swarmed round me in such countless myriads, and 
tormented me so terribly, that I had the greatest difficulty in 
keeping quiet for a moment. In about ten minutes I saw 
the eagle cruising in the distance; it wheeled round several 
times in the direction of the wood, and then flew straight 
towards the nest, on the edge of which it had hardly settled 
before it noticed me and my much too obtrusive hiding-place, 
and flew quickly off again in the opposite direction. 
It was now quite evident that there was nothing to be done 
in this way, so as soon as I thought that the eagle was well 
away, I slipped out of the hut, crept under the nesting-tree, 
hid among the thick bushes, and in order to make myself as 
invisible as possible lay flat on my back, with my gun ready 
cocked and pointed, and covered myself with some branches 
which I had cut. I must have lain a good quarter of an hour 
in this position, most horribly tortured by the insects, when I 
at last heard the rush of the eagle’s wings, and saw the bird 
