THROUGH WILD EUROPE 307 



depth of six feet, and the snow is also many feet 

 deep. 



The houses are all thatched with reeds, the fences 

 and fish-traps being also always made of the same 

 material. The cows and horses are fed on the green 

 leaves, while the young and tender shoots are boiled 

 for human food. They are even trying, so I heard, 

 to make paper from reeds. If they can succeed in this 

 — and it seems to me quite feasible — the manufacture 

 should be a profitable one. 



We had not gone very far on our first day's 

 journey when Rettig, who was in advance with 

 Ivan, fell in with a flock of Caspian Terns (Sterna 

 caspici), and got four of them. Later in the after- 

 noon we found a big colony of Squacco Herons 

 (Ardea ral/ozdes), Night Herons (Nycticorax gri- 

 seus), and Pygmy Cormorants (Phalacrocorax pyg- 

 meus), in a thicket of half-submerged sallows. The 

 slender bushes were crowded with nests, and the 

 stench was, as usual, terrific. As our boats were 

 forced through the thickly-matted bushes the terri- 

 fied birds flew around in the greatest confusion and 

 alarm. 



The water was very deep, in most places from 

 six to eight feet, but in one spot at the outside of 

 the colony I found it was just possible to stand 

 with the camera. I had provided extra legs to 

 screw on the tripod for the deep water generally 



