SEVENTH DAY. 115' 



playing with Imperial Eagles high in the air, or Cinereous 

 Vultures winging their way from the lonely forest valleys in 

 search of plunder. Such a wealth of large raptorial birds it 

 would surely be hard to find elsewhere ! 



Among these mighty birds of prey a Black Stork was 

 circling towards the interior of the woods with long out- 

 stretched neck, and astonishing it was to see this marsh-bird 

 in those silent mountain glens so far from all large swamps. 

 The group of smaller hawks was represented by Common 

 Kites, a Peregrine, and a few of the lesser falcons. 



On a meadow close to the road we saw the skeleton of a 

 horse, and in the thick cover which bordered the track was 

 an old wolf decoy-hut built of boards and faggots. I had a 

 good look at this spot, where many of the larger wild beasts 

 had doubtless been killed, for it reminded me of my splendid 

 hunts after eagles in the woods round Godollo, and I at once 

 thought whether we could not try the same plan here. 



Driving a few hundred yards further through meadows 

 and bushy woods we reached the end of the valley, at a spot 

 where smaller woodland glens enclosed by steep hillsides ran 

 into the mountains in various directions. Here we halted, 

 and the Count begged me to get out and to follow the forester 

 along a footpath which conducted us into the depths of an 

 exceedingly fine wood of high beeches. Then we climbed up 

 an uncommonly steep slope by the side of a narrow little 

 watercourse, and I was thankful that I had got on mountain- 

 boots such as we use in Upper Austria, for they did me re- 

 markably good service in the Fruska-Gora both on this and 

 the subsequent days. 



First we came to the nest of a Common Kite, and the 

 forester asked me if I wished to shoot the bird, but I preferred 

 paying my first visit to a Black Stork, which was breeding- 

 close by. The nest of this great wader was placed on a high 

 leafy oak which grew from the bottom of a steep wooded 



