202 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 



nest of a splendid pair of Peregrines ; but these rare and noble 

 falcons did not permit me to come within even the most 

 distant range. This pirate Peregrine, the very ideal of a true 

 powerful falcon, and the bird which in the heron-hawking of 

 the Middle Ages graced so many beautiful wrists, was the 

 very species which would have been so valuable an addition to 

 our collection, yet all our efforts to obtain it were unsuccessful. 

 The female came, indeed, and circled a few times round my 

 hiding-place, screaming loudly, but she always kept carefully 

 out of shot, so after a long futile wait I quitted the place and 

 went to a little wood surrounded by meadows. There several 

 Black Kites were nesting; but in this forest, just as in the 

 Kovil woods, the herdsmen had made the birds of prey so 

 thoroughly acquainted with the wiles of man, that I did not 

 succeed in getting a fair shot. 



Behind this little colony of Kites was a thin wood of tall 

 trees and some forest- glades, where large herds of cattle were 

 grazing, and high up in one of the trees was the broad nest 

 of the king of the Crow kind, the great Raven. Both the 

 old birds had noticed our approach and circled croaking 

 overhead, nor was there any immediate prospect of their 

 coming nearer the nest; for the four already fledged and full- 

 grown young ones were sitting on the neighbouring trees 

 uttering cries of alarm, and as the stupid clumsy creatures 

 made no use of their well-developed wings, I was able to 

 finish off the whole brood of young robbers with the rifle. 



Attracted by the shots my brother-in-law suddenly emerged 

 from the opposite wood in a rather discontented frame of 

 mind, for his guide, a not very bright inhabitant of Kovil, 

 had lost his way, so they had been wandering about in an 

 aimless sort of manner without getting to the nests. I have 

 therefore the more reason for here singing the praises of my 

 own guide, Tarcza, a peasant of the Kovil district, whose out- 

 ward appearance gave rise to serious doubts as to whether he 



