288 BIRD-HUNTING 



village and there was plenty of choice ; but they 

 are all equally bare, rough, and comfortless. It 

 was extraordinary to see prefects and officials, 

 officers, priests, potmen, waiters, and barkeepers all 

 hobnobbing together on equal terms in these pot- 

 house places full of half-drunken fishermen all 

 singing and shouting at the top of their voices. 



This forest is really a wooded range of rocky 

 hills, about 1,000 feet in height at one end; and 

 as there are one or two precipitous crags there 

 are a good many Griffon Vultures and Egyptian 

 Vultures nesting there, and Eagles of various sorts 

 are common. The Black Vultures also are fairly 

 numerous, but they nest in the large trees growing 

 on the higher parts. 



Our first visit was to a colony of Griffons which 

 were nesting in a semi-circular wall of rock not far 

 from the village. But before we could reach the 

 top of this rock-face — for from below it was in- 

 accessible — there was a long tramp and a wind- and 

 muscle-testing climb up a steep, rock-strewn slope. 

 On the way we had seen a Black Kite [Milvus ater) 

 and two or three Eagles ; and as we neared the 

 colony many Griffons and a Black Vulture passed 

 overhead, and an Eagle Owl was seen on the other 

 side of a rocky valley. Two Egyptian Vultures 

 also flew along the face of a precipitous rock, some 

 ledges of which were liberally whitewashed as if 



