EAGLES &¢ VULTURES IN THE CARPATHIANS. 403 
but probably, after the nature of Eagles, it was cautiously scan- 
ning the whole neighbourhood before venturing any further. 
Presently its head appeared above the edge of the rocks close to 
the bait, and then the bird very slowly and with great caution 
perched on the head of the horse, where I photographed it. The 
light, however, was very dull, and, as I expected, the photograph 
is not a very successful one. Whether it heard the click of the 
shutter or not I cannot say, but it disappeared as silently as it 
had come. For some days after this I saw no more visitors 
except the Ravens, and had plenty of time and opportunity to 
watch their antics, which are sometimes amusing. The humour 
of a Raven, however, is of a somewhat quaint and grim character. 
For instance, after they have picked out the eyes and devoured 
a great part of the inside of a dead animal, they appear to be 
seized with misgivings that perhaps it is only asleep after all, or 
only pretending to be dead; so to make sure one of them will 
solemnly walk up and give it a dig with its great horny beak in 
the ribs or on the face, and then jump up three or four feet into 
the air, as if afraid of it suddenly coming to life again. 
One day I had a visit from a Golden Eagle, which appeared 
silently and suddenly in much the same way as the Imperial 
had done ; it even settled on the highest portion of the bait, but 
just as I was in the act of releasing the shutter it departed sud- 
denly before I could do so, leaving me much disappointed at my 
failure to seize such an opportunity. Then came a day of 
expectation and hope, which resulted in nothing. My friend 
and host had told me that while fishing in the lake below he had 
seen several Vultures, both Gyps fulvus and Vultur monachus, 
flying about as if anxious to go to the bait, but that they were 
pursued and driven off by an Eagle. 
I had in the meantime arrived at the conclusion that some- 
thing of the kind was going on from the noises I had heard all 
one afternoon. For hours I had heard the beatings of heavy 
wings, evidently, from the sound, much more powerful than any 
Raven’s wings, and it had seemed to me that some aerial combat 
was raging round me. Buried alive in my rock-tomb, and unable 
to see anything except through the camera, I could only guess at 
the truth ; but I felt nearly sure that an Hagle of some sort was 
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