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THE BALKANS REVISITED 1907 



Early in 1907 I received another commission to 

 revisit the same countries in Eastern Europe as 

 the previous year, in order to search for the larger 

 raptorial birds, to procure more eggs of Pelecanus 

 crispus and Ardea alba, and if possible to dis- 

 cover a breeding-place of Pelecanus onocrotalus in 

 the Dobrudscha, together with any other species I 

 could find. 



An early start was necessary, and accordingly I 

 left England on the 2nd of February in the hope of 

 being perhaps able to find a nesting-place of the 

 rare Lammergeier {Gypaetus barbatus), which is now 

 on the verge of extinction in Europe. A very early 

 breeder, its nesting-places in the most remote moun- 

 tain ranges are extremely difficult to reach before 

 the young are hatched on account of the deep snow 

 which prevails in the early parts of the year. If it 

 were not for this it would in all probability have 

 been extinct before now, for the habit of laying out 



of strychnined carcases for wolves, by the shepherds 



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