202. FIFTEEN DAYS on THE DANUBE. 
nest of a splendid pair of Peregrines; but these rare and noble 
falcons did not permit me to come within even the most 
distant range. This pirate Peregrine, the very ideal of a true 
powerful falcon, and the bird which in the heron-hawking of 
the Middle Ages graced so many beautiful wrists, was the 
very species which would have been so valuable an addition to 
our collection, yet all our efforts to obtain it were unsuccessful. 
The female came, indeed, and circled a few times round my 
hiding-place, screaming loudly, but she always kept carefully 
out of shot, so after a long futile wait I quitted the place and 
went to a little wood surrounded by meadows. There several 
Black Kites were nesting; but in this forest, just as in the 
Kovil woods, the herdsmen had made the birds of prey so 
thoroughly acquainted with the wiles of man, that I did not 
sucgeed in getting a fair shot. 
Behind this little colony of Kites was a thin wood of tall. 
trees and some forest-glades, where large herds of cattle were 
grazing, and high up in one of the trees was the broad nest 
of the king of the Crow kind, the great Raven. Both the 
old birds had noticed our approach and circled croaking 
overhead, nor was there any immediate prospect of’ their. 
coming nearer the nest; for the four already fledged and full- 
grown young ones were sitting on the neighbouring trees 
uttering cries of alarm, and as the stupid clumsy creatures 
made no use of their well-developed wings, I was able to 
finish off the whole brood of young robbers with the rifle. 
Attracted by the shots my brother-in-law suddenly emerged 
from the opposite wood in a rather discontented frame of 
mind, for his guide, a not very bright inhabitant of Kovil, 
had lost his way, so they had been wandering about in an 
aimless sort of manner without getting to the nests. I have 
therefore the more reason for here singing the praises of my 
own guide, Tareza, ‘a peasant of the Kovil district, whose out- 
ward appearance gave rise to serious doubts as to whether he 
