SECOND DAY, 19 
Thanks to this wounded Cormorant I had pushed a good way 
into this low leafy wood, when I was attracted by a very 
amorous Cuckoo which was fluttering from tree to tree, and 
continually retreating further into the depth of the wood. The 
sprightly bird was so comical that I could not help watching 
it for some time, for it sounded its monotonous call in all sorts 
of tones, and at the same time put itself into the most extra- 
ordinary positions. I could easily have killed it had not my 
attention been distracted by a hawk, which I at first took to 
be a Hobby ; but when I at last got a clear view of it as it 
sat ona dead branch, I saw that it was a Kestrel, and, though 
my shot brought it down, I was again unfortunate in not 
being able to find it among the high grass. I now suddenly 
found myself in a more open place where the low wood ended, 
and I saw before me a patch of high trees, most of them elms ; 
and as the light was shining through the bushes and the 
foliage of their lower branches, it seemed as if I had reached 
the southern end of the island. 
On the higher trees I found some herons’ nests, but their 
inmates were flying about, screaming loudly, for a bold Spotted 
Eagle had swooped majestically through the wood, at just 
the height of the nests, and terribly alarmed the anxious 
-parents. Never having come across a Spotted Eagle before, 
I was much interested at being within the range of its distri- 
bution, for I had not expected to meet with it before getting 
a good way further south. 
No one who knows the “Stein” Eagle well, and keeps it 
in his mind’s eye as the type of the true eagles, will ever 
confound the Spotted Eagle, or other members of its genus, 
with any other class of raptorial birds. 
When the eagle flew past me without moving its wings, 
and witha gliding flight, apparently slow yet swift ag an 
arrow, I was really as much overcome with delight as if I 
had met with an old friend again after a long absence, for 
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