364 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



It turned out to be quite true that Pelicans could be seen 

 from the windows of the consulate. There were constantly about 

 a dozen fishing or resting on the low islands in the lagoon ; but 

 I soon began to doubt whether any were nesting there, for the 

 great majority of the birds were immature. A fortnight's hard 

 work, wading to all the islands, and searching the reed-beds, 

 failed to produce any signs of a nesting colony. The fishermen, 

 too, confirmed this idea, for they told us that no nests had been 

 seen there for very many years. 



In the meantime every effort was made to photograph a 

 Pelican by lying in wait for them near their favourite places, 

 and by trying to drive them within range of the camera. The 

 automatic electric-photo trap was also tried, sometimes being 

 left out all night, in the hope of an early morning success, when 

 the birds might be less suspicious of danger. But all these 

 efforts were of no avail ; while it was impossible to approach 

 them by stalking with the camera at nearer than five hundred 

 yards, at which distance even such huge birds as Pelicans are 

 not worth photographing even with the telephoto lens. 



At this point the map of the surrounding country was con- 

 sulted, as we felt confident that there must exist some nesting 

 place at no very great distance. Eventually we determined to 

 ride for three or four days, and search two or three likely places, 

 taking with us in pack-saddles just bare necessaries, so that we 

 could travel lightly, and cover as much ground as possible. The 

 first night was spent at the house of an Albanian bey, who 

 entertained us hospitably with a lamb roasted whole, and the 

 many courses of a regular Turkish dinner. The next morning 

 we started early, with two of his followers armed with Martinis 

 as guards and guides. As guides, however, they were not an 

 unqualified success, for towards the afternoon they appeared to 

 have lost their way, and we found ourselves on the wrong side 

 of a big lake. Here we took direction ourselves after a look 

 at the map, and struck out a line across very swampy and 

 treacherous country. Eventually we found ourselves in the right 

 direction, after nearly getting bogged in the swamps, and experi- 

 encing some difficulty in crossing a narrow but deep river, and 

 several broad ditches. On the way we put up two Sea-Eagles 

 (Haliaetus albicilla), and two Egyptian Vultures (Neophron 





