THROUGH WILD EUROPE 89 



the plan of hiding a camera overnight on one of the 

 islets much favoured by them, connecting the shutter 

 with an electric battery in such a way that the 

 slightest touch on a silk thread stretched along 

 the ground would release it and make the expo- 

 sure, in the hope that in the early morning one of 

 them might unsuspectingly photograph itself without 

 knowing any thing about it. But all in vain. 



The worst of it was that I seriously began to 

 doubt whether the Pelicans were in the habit of 

 nesting there at all. I had noticed from the first 

 that nearly all the birds were in immature plumage, 

 and I suspected strongly that, though there probably 

 was a breeding colony somewhere not far off, the birds 

 here were not breeding. This supposition was con- 

 firmed by a family of fishermen and gunners who 

 lived near the shore, who declared that they had not 

 nested in the lagoon for many years. (These men 

 showed us a box of dark yellow fat from a Pelican, 

 which they declared was first-rate stuff for rheuma- 

 tism.) But if we did no good with the Pelicans 

 we had some most interesting experiences with 

 other birds, and some of my pleasantest memories 

 are connected with Durazzo lagoon and the 

 surrounding country. 



What delightful days were spent with gun and 



camera, sometimes accompanied by B , and 



sometimes, when he was prevented by his Consular 



