SECOND DAY. 29 



this splendid evening, could not fail to make a lasting impres- 

 sion on any lover of nature. 



From the marsh came the strange cry of the Lapwing, 

 which, like that of the Snipe, sounds weird and boding at 

 nightfall, and the sportsman is involuntarily reminded of the 

 Walpurgisnacht and of old hunters' tales. The ducks dropped 

 quacking into the dry channels, and one after another the 

 herons flew from the forests towards the recesses of the 

 inland marshes, all taking the same line, while on the banks 

 the Sand-Martins had been replaced by bats, and crows were 

 flying leisurely to their roosting-places. 



This wonderful picture lasted for but a short time, for again 

 the " auen " on the right disappeared and were succeeded 

 by a narrow line of hills running immediately above the 

 river. Beyond and behind these heights we saw, as well as 

 the gathering night would let us, level country, and near the 

 river-bank, close under them, a church, while the barking of 

 dogs and the shouts of the home returning herdsmen showed 

 that there was a village hard by. On the left side of the 

 river we observed a continuous stretch of wood only occa- 

 sionally broken by marshes. 



During the whole evening we had been standing on deck 

 admiring this most enjoyable scenery, and had meanwhile 

 also made a good many ornithological observations. The 

 Captain now came to say that in a few minutes we should be 

 at anchor ; and as night had already shrouded every tiling in 

 its dark uniformity, we decided on sitting down to dinner, 

 and after finishing our coffee, cigars, and sporting stories, we 

 worked a little more at our notes and diaries. The vessel had 

 long been at anchor, and on deck everything was perfectly 

 quiet ; I did not look out again, and it was so dark that I 

 should have seen but little if I had done so. I must therefore 

 confess to neither exactly knowing where we spent the night 

 nor what the place looked like, but from what the Captain said 



