I50 SPORT IN EUROPE 



and presents it to the successful hunter on the top of his doffed hat, in 

 olden days in a kneeling attitude, with a " waidmannsheil " (luck to 

 the hunter). The twig may be worn that day only. 



Modern weapons and modern cultivation of forest and field have 

 doomed a goodly array of noble animals in Central Europe. 



Cei'V7is Megacei'os passed away when written history began ; the 



ibex has here been extinct for more than a century. The grand 



elk still exists in a wild state in the forest of I ben- 

 German , . , r T- T^ . , 



Game "orst, m the provmce of East Prussia, but can no 



longer be shot by ordinary sportsmen, the killing of 

 surplus stags being reserved for royalty and its guests. The wolves 

 left in Alsace-Lorraine are rapidly being exterminated, while the total 

 extinction of the x'ulture eagle {Gypaetos barbatus) or Lammergeier 

 was of great benefit to all mountain game, and also to sheep-farmers. 

 Other eagles, of course, cross the continent, and are occasionally shot 

 in most parts of Germany. 



The golden eagle still breeds occasionally in the Alpine parts 

 of Bavaria, but, being not only an arrant poacher, but also considered 

 the noblest game of all by the mountaineers, whose greatest pride 

 it is to stick into their hats as a trophy the white, 

 Easrle <^^owny tail feathers, its depredations have been nearly 

 stopped for good. The late Count Max Arco Zinneberg, 

 the great hunter and founder of the famous collection of antlers in 

 Munich, now belonging to his grandson, and the head keeper of 

 the Bavarian Regent, Leo Dorn, at Hindelrang, both men of un- 

 common skill and power of endurance, devoted a great part of their 

 lives to the pursuit of the golden eagle, and shot forty to fifty each. 



