66 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



The current now bore us rapidly down-stream, we soon saw 

 the steamer in the distance, and a few more strokes of the 

 paddle brought us up to her side. The other " csikeln " 

 speedily followed, but the boat with Hodek and my jager 

 was far behind. 



Now came the ticklish moment of getting up the accom- 

 modation ladder out of the low rocking craft. This, too, was 

 happily accomplished without an involuntary bath, and in a 

 few seconds I reached the deck, out of spirits at the many 

 mishaps of the day, and wet to the skin. My brother-in-law 

 was already sitting comfortably in the saloon with Brehm 

 and Homeyer, and before him lay a large Eagle-Owl. He 

 had to-day gone after a Sea-Eagle, which proved unusually 

 shy and would not let him get a shot. As for the owl he 

 had never thought of it, but had bagged it by accident, 

 for he had found this nocturnal robber sitting asleep on one of 

 the lower branches of the same tree on which stood the 

 eagle's nest, and brought it down with an easy shot, thus 

 adding a beautiful specimen to our collection. 



I was ashamed at having to relate to these gentlemen my 

 experiences at the owl's nest ; but I found that Brehm and 

 Homeyer were also not in the most rosy spirits, and that I 

 had made no mistake this morning, for they had been 

 intent on various ornithological studies in the Hullo Marsh, 

 and had thus managed to miss the eagle altogether. Brehm, 

 in particular, spoke with the warmest enthusiasm of the 

 beautiful things he had seen this day, of the splendid 

 views at Draueck, and of the enormous size of the swamp. 

 He was also very desirous that we should, in passing it, 

 devote a morning to this marsh, but considered that it would 

 be better to do so on the return journey, as it was rather too 

 early for the various species of herons and gulls, and that 

 there would be no great improvement in the state of affairs 



