THROUGH WILD EUROPE 227 



spent such weary hours as in this tight-fitting tree. 

 I had to stand with my feet straddled out, and it was 

 impossible to move either of them an inch without 

 upsetting or disturbing the camera. The worst of it 

 was that all my four days' discomfort was utterly 

 wasted, for I never did one single photograph. The 

 first day I could see in front of me, on a dead tree 

 about fifty yards away, three Griffons. For hours 

 they sat there quite motionless, as if dead donkeys 

 were the last things in the world they wanted. Each 

 moment I hoped they would descend, but the hole 

 in front of my tree was too big to fill up closely 

 enough for such keen-eyed birds, and finally they 

 departed silently, no doubt having seen enough to 

 arouse their suspicions. Magpies, Hooded Crows, 

 and Ravens, all came to the donkey ; but during the 

 four days nothing else touched it during the hours of 

 daylight. And at night it was devoured by jackals, 

 who dragged it about and finally finished it. 



There are a good number of these beasts in 

 Albania. I often heard them howling at night while 

 staying on the borders of the forest, and on one 

 occasion I saw one run in front of us as we were 

 riding back from our Pelican expedition. The two 

 mounted guards were in front, and I was about third, 

 as we rode in single file, so I was too far away to shoot. 

 The leading guard unslung his rifle, but the beast 

 vanished into some bushes and was no more seen. 



