STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 139 



summer for half an hour, as he was making his 

 breakfast at the expense of the bees belonging 

 to the friend at whose house I was visiting; and 

 it amused me not a little, although I could not 

 help pitying the poor bees, to see the dexterity 

 with which he made prisoners of the little 

 fellows. 



The following story is translated from the 

 German of Ludwig Pechstein, and is narrated 

 by an Alpine huntsman : A hunter from Mol- 

 lis, when pursuing the chamois, had gone as 

 near as possible to a dangerous spot where one 

 of those animals was standing, and fired at her. 

 Just as his piece was discharged, a golden eagle 

 flew close over his head, and by the cry of the 

 bird, the man was certain that there was a nest 

 of young ones hard by, built among almost in- 

 accessible precipices. The hunter, loading his 

 piece again, and hanging it on his back, took 

 off his shoes, clambered up the rocks, and gain- 

 ed possession of a hazardous foot-hold, from 

 whence he could look into the nest and take 

 hold of it ; but he had one hand only at liberty, 

 being obliged to hold fast on the rock with the 

 other, in order to save himself from tumbling 

 headlong into the giddy gulf beneath ; though 

 giddiness befalls no genuine chamois hunters, 

 for they consider the drinking of the fresh 



