202 BIRD-HUNTING 



which clothed the lower slopes were completely 

 covered. Under these circumstances, especially as 

 I was still far from well, I considered it wise to give 

 up the idea. Success even under the most favour- 

 able circumstances must necessarily be extremely 

 uncertain ; the expense would be considerable, and 

 if I knocked up completely from exposure and hard- 

 ship I might be obliged to abandon the whole 

 expedition and return home without accomplishing 

 anything in return for the outlay, which would be 

 incurred for nothing. 



In Corfu itself there is very little to attract or 

 interest the naturalist. Birds are few and far 

 between, and during my short visit I 'saw many 

 peasants parading their fields armed with rickety- 

 looking guns with which they fired at every living 

 thing they could see. 



In a creek which nearly bisects the island at the 

 back of the town, I found a good many Pygmy 

 Cormorants (Phalacrocorax pygmeus). When I first 

 saw them they were resting on some stakes, in 

 the usual quaint Cormorant attitudes, drying their 

 feathers, not far from a small fishing-house built in 

 the water. Thither I repaired the next day with a 

 camera, intent on a photograph, but found the distance 

 too great. There were many Curlews feeding, also 

 Mergansers and flocks of small Grebes, I think 

 Podiceps nigricollis, but there was such a strong 



