418 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



seen in a wild state. Owing to the marshy ground we could not 

 approach them, and they looked as if they would show fight had 

 we done so ; we were therefore reluctantly obliged to leave them 

 to their reflections and resume our journey. Not long after we 

 arrived at Sandberg, a village at the foot of the Kreuzberg, and 

 there we " outspanned," and took a guide named Valentine to 

 show us the way to the summit. We went our way briskly, and 

 soon passed three German gentlemen, who had left Sandberg 

 some time before us, and whose motto, as they told us, was 

 " Immer langsam " (ever slowly), and in about an hour arrived at 

 the Monastery, called here the Kloster, which stands almost on 

 the summit of the Kreuzberg, and above the lovely woods which 

 clothe the mountains for more than 2000 feet. From this lofty 

 "coign of 'vantage'' we saw again the Thuringian Forest, the 

 Dreistelz, the two remarkable mountains called the Gleichen, and 

 Kissingen, with the Bodenlaube far away in the distance. Of 

 birds not observed before, we noted the Hen Harrier, Twite, and 

 Meadow Pipit; and, as we returned, again saw the three Eagles 

 in the same place in the Schmalwasser Valley. The people in 

 this district are very poor, and cannot keep horses, as the host 

 at the little tavern told us. Oxen and cows draw their carts, and 

 thus serve more purposes than one in their domestic economy. 

 He also informed us that Eagles were plentiful, and offered to shoot 

 one for us, an offer which, however, we thankfully declined. 



July 17th.— Near Winkels I saw and watched for some time 

 what I took to be a pair of Crested Larks; they alighted near 

 me, and I had a good opportunity of studying their markings. 

 I heard at night a bird making a loud and curious noise, like 

 " hack, hack, hack," along the banks of the river. What could 

 it have been ? A local naturalist averred that it was a Water 

 Bail. We had splendid views of the country from Ludwig's 

 Thurm and the " Hohe Eiche" (High Oak). 



July 18th. — Temperature 81° 5' in the shade. Visited the 

 Museum in the Real-Schule, but was not favourably impressed 

 therewith. 



July 20th. — Had a most enjoyable carriage excursion to 

 Trimburg, an old castle, about five miles away, commanding a 

 splendid view of the country for many miles around. The ruin 

 is indeed a most interesting one, and well repays a visit, perched 

 as it is on a lofty eminence, and still retaining evident traces of 



