98 BIRD-HUNTING 



They were very tame and familiar, nesting in the 

 house-roofs and town walls, and walking about the 

 streets, so I tried ground baiting the roof adjacent 

 to the Consulate with bread for a few days, leaving a 

 box covered over with a cloth, where I intended to 

 place the camera. Then when they came freely the 

 camera was placed in position on the parapet, with 

 a string, and while I sat with a book in an open 

 doorway, old Mirto, the other kavass, kept watch, 

 and gave me notice when they were near. 



There were two kavasses attached to the Con- 

 sulate : Mirto, a Turk, and Marco, an Albanian. 

 The former generally was on duty in the house 

 and about the town. When makine calls on the 

 governor, or at any of the other consulates, Mirto 

 walked ahead with a big brass-handled stick, and a 

 pair of enormous silver-mounted revolvers in his 

 waistband, while after dusk he carried a large 

 lantern. Marco nearly always accompanied us on 

 our excursions farther afield, and whenever I waited 

 hidden up to photograph Pelicans he was always 

 lying concealed among the bushes within hail, with 

 his magazine carbine loaded and ready in case of 

 any trouble. 



In Albania there is very little protection from law 

 either for life or property. You have to protect 

 yourself, and nobody moves outside the towns, and 

 not often inside, without being armed. While in 



