THROUGH WILD EUROPE 75 



busy fishing in the sea, while others were resting on 

 the sand digesting their last meal of fish. They 

 were exceedingly shy, however, and it was impos- 

 sible to approach within about 400 yards, and 

 at a quarter of that range even a Pelican is im- 

 possible to photograph with the telephoto lens, 

 while with an ordinary lens it would be nearly 

 invisible. I hardly knew where to look for nests, 

 some information I had received leading me to 

 suppose that they nested among reeds, while these 

 people here assured me they nested on the sand at 

 the water's edge. But as we were divided in the 

 search over a sandy tract with pools of water, 

 bushes, and swamps, suddenly three men armed 

 with magazine carbines and Martini rifles were seen 

 coming towards us. Their attitude did not appear 

 to be friendly, and Djouraschkovitch seemed inclined 

 to avoid them ; but as we were in full sight, and 

 meeting them was perfectly inevitable, I thought it 

 best to put on a bold face and see what they 

 wanted. It seemed that we were on a disputed 

 tract of land, claimed by both Montenegro and 

 Albania, in consequence of the altered course of the 

 river, which had shifted its bed — as rivers occasion- 

 ally do — some years previously. As I was accom- 

 panied by Montenegrins, these Albanians, seeing 

 my camera, thought we were surveying, or taking 

 some steps towards seizing or fortifying the place, 



