212 FIFTEEN DAYS ON THE DANUBE. 
soaring in great circles, Hawks and Kites were wheeling 
about. lower down, while Doves were cooing among the trees 
and bushes; and Orioles, Thrushes, Shrikes, Starlings, and 
many other birds were whistling and singing in full concert. 
The lower forms of life were also well represented ; for the 
smooth clammy bodies of snakes and lizards, some of them of 
very considerable size, were gleaming among the grass, 
and a great variety of butterflies and insects were fluttering 
about. 
I brought down a Turtle-Dove which came very near our 
resting-place ; and after this incident we ended our siesta, 
and went for another ramble through the woods. Leopold 
returned to the Imperial Eagle’s nest; Bombelles drove off to 
a distant part of the Saéer forest, where there was a colony 
of Kites; Homeyer intended to visit the skirts of the Kovil 
woods, to study the. smaller birds of the copses and fields ; 
Brehm wished to explore a portion of the same forest ; and 
I went back to my colony of raptorial birds to observe their 
habits at the nest from some quiet place of concealment. So 
we all separated in different directions. 
On reaching the broad ride I met the climber who had, 
during the drive, taken the young Eagle-Owls from the nest, 
and instead of the old Sea-Hagle which I expected, brought 
me a young one, fully feathered but not yet fledged, the 
ball having been planted fairly enough in the middle of its 
back. 
I now continued my walk along the footpath until I got 
near the, Owl’s nest, near which I had yesterday seen an 
Imperial Eagle building, and concealing myself behind the 
thick trunk of a tree sat down and watched the numerous 
birds of prey that were flying about. Imperial and Pygmy 
Eagles, Goshawks, and Kites kept passing by, but always out 
of shot, and I had, moreover, concentrated my attention on a 
dark-coloured Pygmy Eagle. This bird was flying about low 
