SEVENTH DAY, 115 
playing with Imperial Eagles high in the air, or Cinereous 
Vultures winging their way from the lonely forest valleys in 
search of plunder. Such a wealth of large raptorial birds it 
would surely be hard to find elsewhere ! 
Among these mighty birds of prey a Black Stork was 
circling towards the interior of the woods with long out- 
stretched neck, and astonishing it was to see this marsh-bird 
in those silent mountain glens so far from all large swamps. 
The group of smaller hawks was represented by Common 
Kites, a Peregrine, and a few of the lesser falcons. 
On a meadow close to the road we saw the skeleton of a 
horse, and in the thick cover which bordered the track was 
an old wolf decoy-hut built of boards and faggots. I hada 
good look at this spot, where many of the larger wild beasts 
had doubtless been killed, for it reminded me of my splendid 
hunts after eagles in the woods round Gédéllé, and I at once 
thought whether we could not try the same plan here. 
Driving a few hundred yards further through meadows 
and bushy woods we reached the end of the valley, at a spot 
where smaller woodland glens enclosed by steep hillsides ran 
into the mountains in various directions. Here we halted, 
and the Count begged me to get out and to follow the forester 
along a footpath which conducted us into the depths of an 
exceedingly fine wood of high beeches. Then we climbed up 
an uncommonly steep slope by the side of a narrow little 
watercourse, and I was thankful that I had got on mountain- 
boots such as we use in Upper Austria, for they did me re- 
markably good service in the Fru’ka-Gora both on this and 
the subsequent days. 
First we came to the nest of a Common Kite, and the 
forester asked me if I wished to shoot the bird, but I preferred 
paying my first visit to a Black Stork, which was breeding 
close by. The nest of this great wader was placed on a high 
leafy oak which grew from the bottom of a steep wooded 
12 
