252 EXTRACTS FROM 
swept wildly over the camp. Our dragoman Hassan crept 
from tent to tent, and hammered the pegs more firmly into 
the ground ; but a side of the one in which my uncle and I 
were sleeping was torn away by the squall, and wakened by 
the cold current of air we saw the starry sky smiling down 
into our dwelling. Luckily all damages were soon repaired, 
and towards morning the storm abated. 
We breakfasted at a very early hour, before sunrise, as 
we intended to distribute ourselves along the shore of the 
island to watch the flight of the waterfowl and to select good 
positions where we could lie in wait for them. 
As soon as we left the tents we saw numbers of birds 
already on the wing, such as cormorants, various kinds of 
ducks, herons, and pelicans. The latter have a very funny 
appearance, for their long bills hang down in a comical 
fashion, and they evidently find it difficult to buoy up their 
great heavy bodies, even with such enormous wings as they 
possess. Nevertheless their powers of flight are strong and 
enduring. 
The Grand Duke and I went to the flat shore near the 
camp and hid ourselves as well as we could. Many sorts of 
birds came past, some of which we shot, and altogether the 
flight was a remunerative one, for we had only to wait a 
short time between the shots. We also obtained the Pied 
Kingfisher, that large but inferior edition of our kingfisher, 
but unfortunately no pelicans, for they passed us out of 
range. 
Shots sounded from all sides, so we had hopes of a good 
bag. On this first occasion the birds were not at all shy, 
but in a couple of days we had exterminated the stock of 
game on the island, and the flocks avoided the dangerous 
rocks by making long detours. 
The morning flight was over in an hour, and we returned to 
