224 BIRD-HUNTING 



wondered what they were up to, and I wasn't quite 

 easy in my mind, for I knew that this forest, like all 

 the forests in Northern Albania, was infested with 

 robbers, and I let them see that I was well armed, 

 and accosted them in Italian, which is very generally 

 used here. However, they only answered in Al- 

 banian, which of course I was unable to understand. 

 Here was a deadlock. However, I tried to show 

 them by signs what I was about, and handed them 

 a glass of wine from my flask. In return they rolled 

 me a cigarette. After this exchange of civilities 

 there was no fear of anything wrong, and after a 

 short time I tried to get them to move on, as they 

 were wasting my time. But they wouldn't budge, 

 so as it was no good expecting the Eagle to come I 

 determined to photograph my visitors instead, which 

 seemed to amuse them mightily, though I don't 

 suppose they had ever seen a camera before. 



Finally they departed, after stopping three-quarters 

 of an hour, and left me free to continue my work. 



After some time the Eagle came as I was eating 

 my lunch. Looking up I saw her sitting on a bough 

 just over the nest, and was so taken by surprise that 

 I didn't get the exposure made in time, and she 

 must have seen me, for she never returned. There 

 were two eggs in this nest, rather incubated. 



To my great surprise, after returning to the 

 house, while we were having dinner who should 



