226 BIRD-HUNTING 



absence of* enemies powerful enough to prey on 

 them, and being but seldom molested by the in- 

 habitants of these wild countries, live to a great 

 age, in fact outlive their powers of reproduction. In 

 the course of the time covered by this book, for 

 example, I have met with the following addled 

 eggs of raptorial birds : one Bonelli's Eagle's and 

 two Griffon Vultures' in Spain, three Sea Eagles' in 

 Albania, and one Black Vulture's in Roumania. 



Between these two nests there was an open space 

 among the trees, in which lay a dead donkey, recently 

 eaten by Vultures. The bones were picked bare, 

 and the earth around trampled with many feet, and 

 covered with splashes of their dung. There was a 

 big, hollow tree close at hand, in which I thought 

 would be room to hide myself and the camera. 

 Accordingly I had another dead donkey brought by 

 bullock-cart from another part of the forest and 

 deposited there, while one of the men enlarged with 

 his axe the interior of the tree. 



Here I took up my position early the next 

 morning hoping for a photograph of Vultures, or 

 perhaps one or other of the Eagles from the 

 neighbouring nests. And here I spent four days of 

 torture. The tree was after all far too small, in spite 

 of all the axe work, and though I have spent long 

 hours waiting for birds in many queer positions and 

 uncomfortable attitudes, never in all my life have I 



