82 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
melancholy Black Storks within a small radius. I care- 
fully approached: the first ; and when I had got under the 
tree I told the forester to frighten out the bird. But all his 
efforts to do so were vain; so, slinging my gun, I left the 
place, and had hardly got forty paces from the nest when I 
saw the lazy bird sitting quietly on its eggs. 
On seeing us it slowly rose, and a shot buried it within its 
dwelling. A few moments afterwards a large male came 
flying pretty high above the trees, anda snap shot luckily 
winged it so that it fell, crashing through the branches, and 
plumped down close beside us. 
The neighbouring nests were empty, for the parent birds, 
frightened by the shots and concerned about their broods, 
were circling anxiously round. I therefore left the place, 
and, returning to the cart, we drove along another broad ride 
to the spot where I had killed my first stork about an hour ago. 
As we rattled over the turf at a fast trot, one of these 
great marsh-birds flew over the cart. I fired and hit it, but 
unfortunately not hard enough to kill the tough fellow, and, 
though it sank slowly down to the wood, we soon lost sight 
of it. 
A short drive brought us close to the nests which I had 
previously visited. Here we frightened a Black Stork out of 
its dwelling, and it fell dead at my first shot; but remained 
so tightly jammed between the branches of a young beech 
that we again had to cut down the tree, and at this disturb- 
ance all the other storks left their nests and cruised about 
overhead out of range. 
The forester now suggested that we should visit a rather 
distant part of the wood, for though he only knew of a kite’s 
nest there, he thought the drive would well repay me, as the 
way to it passed through the densest part of the forest, and 
there would be a good chance of seeing roe, or even red 
deer. 
