FOURTH DAY. 55 



look suggestive of all the old hunting-tales, the " Walpurgis- 

 nacht " and long by-gone days, and has perhaps suffered more 

 from the inroads of civilization than even the Eagle, for it 

 demands perfect quiet, and vast wildernesses are its true home. 



There I sat in my " csikel " -with my empty gun, the pic- 

 ture of misery ; but Hodek assured me that when the Eagle- 

 Owl is clean missed, it soon comes back to its nest, and that 

 even when it is wounded, but is still strong enough to drag 

 itself back to its retreat, it does so that it may die in its own 

 dwelling, surrounded by its belongings, he having seen instances 

 of both cases in the course of his many years' experience. 



For this ray of hope I was very thankful, and though I did 

 not set much faith on the result, I determined to return to the 

 nest in a few hours. As we were leaving the place, in de- 

 pressed spirits, a beautiful Osprey flew over us and settled on 

 a high black poplar, whose dead top was decorated with an 

 old abandoned Sea-Eagle's nest. Ducks were getting up 

 everywhere among the stems of the trees, and a lively bustle 

 was going on amongst the crowd of Moorhens. Our object 

 now was to get out of this wood as quickly as we could, in 

 order to pay a visit to a Sea-Eagle, so we directed that the 

 boat, which had remained by the open water, should be 

 hidden in the thickets and kept in waiting for us. 



We then advanced in an opposite direction through another 

 flooded thicket, and soon reached an open arm of the river 

 with dense copses running along its right bank and on its left 

 a high wood, most of which was under water. 



After paddling about a quarter of an hour, Hodek announced 

 that we must be close to the first eagle's nest, so we put into 

 the left bank at a place where most of the high wood was free 

 of water, and entered a grove composed of silver poplars, black 

 poplars, and a few oaks, where there was little undergrowth 

 and but few pools, a state of matters which much facilitated 

 our progress. 



