ELEVENTH DAY. 177 



hillsides all descend to the valley from a certain point at 

 a sharp incline ; and where the wood finishes off with a 

 few great oaks, beeches, and hawthorn thickets, there begins 

 a regular moraine, such as one so often meets with in the 

 glorious Alps. The breadth of this moraine is not greater 

 than two hundred yards, and on both sides it is bordered 

 by very stony woods. Some forty paces from the place 

 where the trees terminate there rises from this debris of 

 stones a group of rocky pinnacles like the dolomitic rocks 

 occurring in some of the southern valleys of Tyrol or the 

 remarkable formations of the Saxon and Bohemian Switzer- 

 land. 



Below these pinnacles the moraine runs down to the valley 

 still more abruptly, and at its base is a lovely green glade 

 through which flows a noisy and stony brook, while the face 

 of the opposite hill is covered with splendid beech woods. 

 The place has altogether a remarkably picturesque character, 

 and from the rocks there is a wonderful view along this 

 wooded valley, and over the lower heights and summits down 

 to the Hungarian plains. 



We easily found Brehm's leafy hut and the kid, which 

 already smelt very bad ; and as soon as the forester had 

 departed, we crept into the hiding-place and, getting our 

 guns ready, waited patiently for something to come : but 

 two or three hours passed without our seeing either an eagle 

 or a vulture, even in the far distance. Some Wood-Pigeons 

 and other forest-birds were playing merrily about, and we 

 once heard the shrill call of the beautiful Imperial Eagle, but 

 that was all. We had evidently come too early ; for it was 

 probably at some other time of the day that the raptorial 

 birds frequented this spot, and it is remarkable with what 

 regularity these creatures keep to their hours. We therefore 

 recognized the futility of remaining, and left our ambush 

 in very depressed spirits. 



N 



