THROUGH WILD EUROPE 167 



get away to do any work. We were ushered inside, 

 of course, where we all squatted round the fire 

 while the usual coffee was made, then cigarettes, 

 raki, and cream cheese were handed round. We 

 were a large party, and the family was a large one : 

 two brothers, apparently, with their wives and in- 

 numerable children, and an old woman, possibly the 

 mother, all living together in a big basket, for the 

 house was entirely made of wicker-work ; inside and 

 out, partitions, cupboards, sleeping-bunks, and every 

 part was made of osiers, or willow twigs, roughly 

 matted together, so there was plenty of ventilation, 

 and a free outlet for the smoke. 



As soon as I could I escaped outside, and, ac- 

 companied by two boys and one of the men, armed 

 with a first-rate magazine carbine, went in search of 

 the Velika biyella charplya (Great White Heron). 

 The bird had been described to them, and the local 

 name used, and they professed their ability to take 

 me to a nest. Off we went, nearly waist-deep in 

 water for about an hour, when they conducted me 

 with great pride to the nest of a Hooded Crow ! 



The four skinny, ungainly-looking little Crows 

 which were the inhabitants of this nest seemed to 

 wear a grin of derision on their ugly faces as I 

 looked at them, and I felt inclined to wring their 

 necks. But it was no use being angry ; the people 

 had done their best according to their limited 



