ELEVENTH DAY. 187 
However, to our great astonishment, one of the latter birds 
dashed out at the first noise; and though we both fired a 
couple of shots at this wide-awake hawk it did not fall, 
but disappeared among the bushes hard hit, and, not being 
found by the keepers for some days, it arrived at Vienna in a 
useless state—the only result attained being the filling-up of 
the gap in our shooting-list which the Common Kite had 
threatened to create. 
I now hurried off to another Spotted Eagle’s nest, a few 
hundred yards further on. The dwelling of this handsome 
bird was placed in the middle of a very thick and leafy tree, 
surrounded by dense almost impenetrable underwood, and I 
had difficulty in finding a spot sufficiently open to shoot 
from. The eagle did not fly off until the tree had been 
repeatedly struck ; and though both my shots hit it, they 
were unfortunately not fatal. It then settled on a tree not 
far off, but on my coming up fluttered on again somewhat 
further ; and in this way I several times caught sight of it, 
but never got sufficiently near to give it a finishing shot, nor 
was it ever subsequently found. As time was now pressing, 
we hastened along to the edge of the wood, scrambling 
through the thick bushes as best we could, and putting up 
on the way a big roebuck, which instantly vanished into 
the depths of the cover. 
We soon reached the border of the wood, where, to our 
left, stretched billowy corn-fields, with their wind-swept ears 
swishing like the waves of the sea. Heavy clouds were 
coming up over the summits of the Slavonian mountains, and 
the distant rumbling of the thunder mingled harmoniously 
with the shrill cries of the birds. In a few minutes we 
got to the carriages, and as the time for our departure was 
approaching we abandoned some kites’ nests in the opposite 
wood, and drove off along a beautiful road, which, beginning 
by passing through woods, meadows, and cornfields, and 
