66 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
The current now bore us rapidly down-stream, we soon saw 
the steamer in the distance, and a few more strokes of the 
paddle brought us up to her side. The other “csikeln” 
speedily followed, but the boat with Hodek and my jiger 
was far behind. 
Now came the ticklish moment of getting up the accom- 
modation ladder out ‘of the low rocking craft. This, too, was 
happily accomplished without an involuntary bath, and in a 
few seconds I reached the deck, out of spirits at the many 
mishaps of the day, and wet to the skin. My brother-in-law 
was already sitting comfortably in the saloon with Brehm 
and Homeyer, and before him lay a large Hagle-Owl. He 
had to-day gone after a Sea-~Hagle, which proved unusually 
shy and would not let him get a shot. As for the owl he 
had never thought of it, but had bagged it by accident, 
for he had found this nocturnal robber sitting asleep on one of 
the lower branches of the same tree on which stood the 
eagle’s nest, and brought it down with an easy shot, thus 
adding a beautiful specimen to our collection. 
I was ashamed at having to relate to these gentlemen my 
experiences at the owl’s nest; but I found that Brehm and 
Homeyer were also not in the most rosy spirits, and that I 
had made no mistake this morning, for they had been 
intent on various ornithological studies in the Hullé Marsh, 
and had thus managed to miss the eagle altogether. Brehm, 
in particular, spoke with the warmest enthusiasm of the 
beautiful things he had seen this day, of the splendid 
views at Draueck, and of the enormous size of the swamp. 
He was also very desirous that we should, in passing it, 
devote a morning to this marsh, but considered that it would 
be better to do so on the return journey, as it was rather too 
early for the various species of herons and gulls, and that 
there would be no great improvement in the state of affairs 
