SEVENTH DAY. 125 



that they had no springs, and consisted of a simple wooden 

 framework bound together with ropes, that saved them from 

 destruction. Count Chotek now kindly offered us his cart, 

 and seated himself in one of those which were following. 



It was a splendid cloudless night, and countless stars were 

 shining in the heavens. Behind us lay the summits of the 

 Fruska-Gora enveloped in the blue mists of evening, and 

 before us, towards the Hungarian plains, everything was 

 indistinctly blended together. We reached Cerevic after a 

 wearisome and apparently endless drive, and blessed the 

 moment when we stepped on board. Delightful as these 

 regions are, the getting about in them is miserable, and we 

 were more tired from the incessant shaking than if we had 

 walked twice as many hours. Just before arriving at the 

 place where our vessel lay, we met Brehm and Homeyer, 

 who had but that moment returned from the nests. I 

 shouted out to them a long way off to ask what they had 

 shot, and to our great, and Count Chotek's still greater, 

 astonishment, Homeyer quickly answered that he had bagged 

 a Griffon Vulture. Brehm and his friend had both visited 

 the same nest, and had clambered up towards it in the full 

 expectation of seeing a Cinereous Vulture; but on nearing 

 the place a great Griffon Vulture whizzed out of it, and 

 Homeyer had luckily brought it down with shot. He was 

 justly proud of this rare booty, which was so highly interesting 

 to all of us, especially as only a few hours ago this very bird 

 had been pointed out to us by Count Chotek as being a rare 

 inhabitant of these mountains. Brehm was quite undeceived, 

 and had to admit that he was wrong, for the nest of the 

 Griffon Vulture was simply situated on an oak tree, in a place 

 where for far and wide no rocks were to be found. 



The Griffon Vulture is characterized by its coffee-brown 

 plumage, yellowish neck-ruffle, white head and neck, and 

 broad rounded tail, and is, on the whole, only slightly smaller 



