Passing through the ponderous rustic entrance gates, cleverly constructed of birch and aspen poles, and surmounted by some fine pairs of antlers and the Potocki crest, we first came upon a spacious open enclosure containing a couple of fine bears, now about two years old, which were captured as cubs in Lithuania by a friend of the Count. In the enclosure are a couple of tall dead birch-trees, up which the bears are in the habit of climbing. They are also provided with a kind of cavern, or den, in which they spend much of their time when the weather is hot; and they likewise have a bath. [Illustration: THE SHOOTING-LODGE AT PILAWIN.] Leaving these guardians, a few yards farther on we reached the picturesque and gabled shooting-lodge which was to form our residence for the next ten days; the Count and his family being quartered at another residence, at Pisczow, some four miles distant on the farther side of the Kieff road. This shooting-lodge--which is in telephonic communication with all the other residences of the Count--is picturesquely situated on the western side of the Pilawin preserve, and overlooks in front a wide stretch of open cornfields, bordered by dense forest of Scotch pine, oak, and birch, with a few clumps of larch; while at the back the forest comes up to within a few yards of the building itself. [Illustration: OURSELVES STARTING FROM THE SHOOTING-LODGE.] Constructed entirely of wood, and erected by the local workmen under the superintendence of Mr. Sokalski, an Austrian Pole, who occupies the post of director of the preserve, the Pilawin shooting-lodge is a spacious two-storeyed building capable of affording excellent accommodation for three or four guests, and likewise containing the director’s offices and the dwelling-rooms of the head forester. The exterior is covered with large sheets of birch-bark, thus giving to the building the appearance at a distance of being constructed of blocks of white stone. The main apartment, on the first floor, which serves both as dining-room and smoking-room, is adorned with a number of sporting and natural history trophies, including numerous elk, wapiti, and other antlers, together with stuffed specimens of the white-tailed eagle (_Haliaëtus albicilla_), the spotted eagle (_Aquila heliaca_), capercaillie (_Tetrao urogallus_), and the rare black stork (_Ciconia nigra_).