128 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
feathers after feeding. He had therefore begged Count 
Chotek to get a little hiding-place of boughs hastily rigged 
up as well as was possible, and to have a kid exposed as a 
bait for the birds of prey. He ‘expected great results from 
this enterprise, and we were all curious to see how he would 
succeed. 
Homeyer intended to devote the whole day to the smaller 
species of birds, and at the same time to rest a little. He 
meant to stroll about the vineyards and outlying hills close to 
our steamer, while Bombelles wished to return to the nest 
which had been supposed to belong to a vulture and to try 
his luck afresh. 
My brother-in-law and I, each in his own cart, drove off 
one behind the other in the same direction. At first our way 
led us up-stream, along what was called a highroad, but 
which was really a badly ballasted rough construction, no 
better than a country by-road. On this south bank of the 
Danube the slopes descending towards the river on our right 
were formed by some meadows, and the hillsides rising on 
our left were decked with vineyards and a few fruit-trees in 
splendid bloom. By the roadside I noticed numbers of 
Greenfinches, Corn-Buntings, Wagtails, Red-backed Shrikes, 
and various Warblers, and on the meadows also some Green 
Woodpeckers and Wrynecks. 
After a good half-hour’s drive we reached a village, where 
on our left a deep valley bounded by treeless slopes led 
towards the interior of the country. There we separated, my 
brother-in-law going a good way further on before turning 
into the next valley, while I passed through the village and 
drove on towards the Fruska-Gora by a very rough road, 
which ran by the side of a little mountain-brook, and con- 
ducted me to the very verge of the woods. I passed through 
a charming district of meadows, vineyards, isolated little 
patches of rock, and steep loamy slopes covered with almond 
