FOURTH DAY. 67 



before the time of our going home. He had found the 

 entire marsh well stocked with birds. 



We had arranged with Bombelles that we would pick him 

 up, and that he was to wait for us at the fishing-colony, our 

 starting point of yesterday ; so as soon as my men were safe 

 on board I gave the order to start. 



We made rather slow progress against the swift current of 

 this arm of the river, but after an hour's run, during which 

 we lunched and took the preliminary measurements of the 

 slain birds, we reached the rendezvous with Bombelles, and 

 somewhere between five and six in the afternoon got to the 

 place where we were to pass the night. 



As we approached the colony, Bombelles stepped out of a 

 fisherman's hut, perfectly drenched and empty-handed. He 

 had found the second nest of the previous day quite deserted, 

 but at the first succeeded in getting a shot, hitting the 

 eagle rather hard. He had, however, by an unlucky acci- 

 dent, loaded with shot so small that it had not strength 

 enough to kill the powerful bird outright. 



From this nest he had brought with him the young eagles, 

 which were already fairly large and showed the first traces 

 of feathers. 



There were still some hours of daylight before us; the 

 weather had cleared, the rain had been followed by a beautiful 

 evening, the ruddy gold rays of the setting sun were piercing 

 through the torn clouds, and a wondrous glow lit up the 

 whole sky. 



Brehm, Homeyer, and I therefore decided not to lose the 

 time, but to make a little excursion into the flooded wilder- 

 ness, where I had yesterday killed the two eagles, though 

 merely for the sake of observing the ways and habits of the 

 Moorhens and the other waterfowl. So we got into a pair- 

 oared boat, in which there was room for all three of us, and 



F2 



