164 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
dwelling ; so jumped up, holding my gun ready, and got close 
under the nest in a few strides. The eagle, however, heard 
me, and flew out of its abode on the side furthest away from 
me; but the first shot which I fired hit it hard, and the second 
brought it down to the ground with a broken wing, and sent 
it rolling down the slope. 
I soon got up to it, but there was still plenty of life in the 
bird; so, not wishing to damage its plumage by a shot at close 
quarters, I tried to finish it with a knife, but it kept me off by 
striking out in all directions with beak and claws. I then 
cut a strong stick, but on approaching the eagle with this it 
darted towards me full of fight; so I called up my attendants, 
and it was only by the united efforts of three persons that the 
bird was at last suffocated. 
It was not a “Stein” Hagle as I had confidently expected, 
for that shy bird seems never to breed in the Fruska-Gora ; 
but I had, on the other hand, again met with a very finely 
marked Imperial Eagle. 
Leaving the place, I went back to the trap and began 
another abominably rough drive to the next nest, uphill and 
downhill along the forest-track, keeping as well as I could 
make out to the east, and therefore quite in the opposite 
direction to Cerevié. In consequence of the wretched way in 
which the forests of these monasteries are managed, the woods 
were here much thinner, and instead of the century-old oaks 
of Cerevié, there were extensive clearings and low saplings ; 
but one result of this was that we had a splendid open view. 
We now again came to a very narrow ridge of the moun- 
tains. Right and ieft below us lay the broad valleys, 
meadows, woods, thickets, and glens of the Fruska-Gora, while 
the distant Hungarian plain presented itself before us like a 
mirage, and towards the south the Alps of Servia and Bosnia 
stood out clear and sharp, separated from us by the blue-green 
valley of the Save. It was, indeed, a noble view! 
