146 FIFTEEN UAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



to the dead horse, while we watched the noble birds in the 

 greatest state of excitement, even holding in our breath. 



From several years' experience I knew all about shooting 

 from a decoy -hut, and in winter I had killed many eagles as 

 they sat on the back of a dead deer or horse, and being aware 

 how shy these lordly birds of prey are, and how cautiously 

 they always approach a decoy-hut, it seemed to me that our 

 wretched place of concealment, which only consisted of a few 

 leafy branches, was very insufficient. 



Nevertheless the eagles settled themselves near the dead 

 horse, one of them close to it, the other only four or five 

 yards from our ambush. We had agreed that Leopold should 

 shoot at all sorts of eagles except Imperial, as I had not 

 killed one of that species; so, as we both took these dark- 

 coloured birds for young Imperial Eagles, I quickly put up 

 my gun. This movement seemed to have been observed by 

 the bird, for it slowly got up and flapped away close to the 

 ground, and on my firing both barrels it dropped on the 

 opposite side of the meadow hard hit. I quickly hurried out, 

 and the eagle rose again ; but a third shot brought it down 

 into the middle of the adjacent stream, and on pulling it out 

 I saw, to my no small disappointment, that, instead of an 

 Imperial, I had killed a dark-plumaged Sea-Eagle about two 

 years old; so I slipped back into the ambush, and again we 

 waited patiently for coming events. 



Two hours passed thus, but far and wide nothing showed 

 itself in our neighbourhood ; the heat, too, had already 

 become quite unbearable, and numberless flies, attracted by 

 the body of the slain bird, were buzzing about us in this 

 confined space. By the time it was nine o'clock the amuse- 

 ment became rather tedious, and as we also thought that our 

 chances during the ensuing hot hours before midday would 

 be but poor, we determined to leave our hiding-place, and 

 returning by the same path reached our vehicles in about a 



