Bird-Hunting Through Wild Europe | by R. B. Lodge
A most interesting expedition could be made now in pursuit of the Eagles and Vultures of Southern Europe. In Spain alone there are still to be found, in the big pine-woods and rugged sierras, five different kinds of Eagles and four kinds of Vultures. Some of these are yearly decreasing in numbers, and in a few more years will be extremely rare. Hungary and the country round the Danube is also particularly rich in raptorial and marsh birds.
| Title | Bird-Hunting Through Wild Europe |
| Author | R. B. Lodge |
| Publisher | Richard Clay & Sons |
| Year | 1908 |
| Copyright | 1908, Richard Clay & Sons |
| Amazon | Bird-Hunting Through Wild Europe |
By R. B. Lodge, Author of 'pictures of bird-life,' 'the birds and their story,' 'the story of hedgerow and pond,' 'one hundred photos of British birds' With 124 Illustrations, from Photographs by the Author
Introduction- In the opening chapter of my Pictures of Bird-Life, written in 1903, I indicated roughly, in the following words, what a splendid field there was for the photographic ornithologist in various parts of...
- I. Birds'-Nesting In Spain
- Early in March 1905, my friend M- and myself left London bound for Andalusia, intent on seeing and photographing as many as possible of the Eagles, Vultures, and marsh birds of that prolific region. ...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 2
- We had intended remaining within sight of the arrangement in some crevice of the rock, but the broiling sun found out in turn each hiding-place we chose, and fairly scorched us out, the heat being to ...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 3
- We had a hot and weary tramp back, and when our guide invited us, with Spanish politeness, to visit his home and rest en la sombra de la sala de mi casa (in the shade of the hall of my house), we acce...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 4
- Indeed it was most noticeable that, every time I tried putting out a bait it was invariably discovered by a Griffon before I had finished concealing the camera; and perhaps that is why they refused to...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 5
- Only a few yards from this nest I had put off from a cave higher up a fine Egyptian Vulture, and could see the outside sticks of her nest projecting over the edge. I tried hard to climb to this nest, ...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 6
- But we could see no signs of any Eagle's nest until I fired a pistol, when out swept, a few yards to our right, with a tremendous rustle of big wing-feathers, not the expected Eagle, but an immense Gr...
- II. Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 7
- We had already seen some of the effects of the disastrous drought, and had heard dismal tales of the condition of the marismas ; but when we arrived there we found that the reality exceeded our worst ...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 8
- In the extensive pine-forests which intersect and surround the marismas there was an equal change. The whole district had passed into different hands, the Spanish Duke, the former owner, having sold i...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 9
- There was one egg in the nest, which I took as we were going away, leaving a hen's egg in its place, for I expected she still had another egg to lay. However, on our return this hen's egg had gone, pr...
- Birds'-Nesting In Spain. Part 10
- I tried here the automatic electric camera carefully hidden with cistus bushes on the top of a sand-dune, and baited with a rabbit. On the first attempt the rabbit was carried off bodily, the string w...
- III. The Journey Out To Bosnia And Montenegro
- Early in April 1906, I found myself in Serajevo, a place the very existence of which, let alone its whereabouts, I had been profoundly ignorant a few weeks before. It is possible that some of my reade...
- The Journey Out To Bosnia And Montenegro. Continued
- The railway from Serajevo to Gravosa, on the Adriatic, is a fine bit of engineering, the line winding-round the mountains in zigzag curves. Through Herzegovina especially the scenery is very impressiv...
- IV. The Quest Of The Pelican : Montenegro
- With the assistance of the law student before referred to. M. Saverias Djouraschkovitch, I began to make preparations for my search. The first thing was to find somebody who knew the country and the b...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Montenegro. Part 2
- Pelicans Swimming Pelicans (Pelecamjs Crispus) However, we had to go, there was no help for it; and after seeing the Pelicans of which I was in search, further pursuit of them had to be aban...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Montenegro. Part 3
- Farther on a group of women squat cross-legged on the ground, with various goods for sale placed in front of them. They are Mohammedans, and are carefully muffled up to the eyes in flowing white drape...
- V. The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania
- The traveller arriving at a Turkish port must be prepared for unpleasantness. Unable to speak the language, I was not long in finding out the difference between the manners of Montenegrin and Turkish ...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 2
- What delightful days were spent with gun and camera, sometimes accompanied by B-, and sometimes, when he was prevented by his Consular duties, alone ! Not the least enjoyable part of the day's program...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 3
- A Reeve (Machetes pugnax) was shot out of a flock on April 25, and a Wood Sandpiper (Totanus glareola) out of another small flock feeding in a tamarisk swamp on April 26. In this same swamp was a Magp...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 4
- In Albania there is very little protection from law either for life or property. You have to protect yourself, and nobody moves outside the towns, and not often inside, without being armed. While in S...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 5
- This year a law was made forbidding the exportation of timber from the forests. A German merchant in the town who had or was about to purchase timber from a neighbouring forest was approached personal...
- VII. The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 6
- All this while time was flying, it was getting on towards the end of April, and in spite of all our efforts no nesting colony of Pelicans had been discovered, and no photographs done. Matters were loo...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 7
- It was by now midday and very hot, and our horses were badly in need of a rest ; so, seeing a large fig-tree close to some huts, the word was given to off-saddle. The luncheon basket was unpacked, and...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 8
- In spite of the vendetta our host saddled his mare in the morning and accompanied us on our way through the forest in order to take us to two fishermen to whom he had sent word overnight, and who were...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 9
- There was no great difficulty in approaching the birds. Taking care to move slowly and quietly, and not to cause them undue alarm at first, I found it possible to advance nearer and nearer, taking pho...
- The Quest Of The Pelican : Albania. Part 10
- The soil of the islands was entirely composed of shell-sand-broken-up cockle-shells. The only vegetation was a species of samphire, growing like heather, but this only flourished on the parts where th...
- VI. An Interlude With Eagles And Storks In Albania
- The daily sight of a pair of Sea Eagles harrying the ducks and Coots on Durazzo lagoon induced us to spare a couple of days searching for their nest in a neighbouring forest. At this time of year the ...
- VIII. The Search After The Great White Heron
- The quest of the Pelican having been brought at last to a successful end, I set to work packing up and making preparations to start for the Dobrudscha to look for the other European Pelican, Pelecanus...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 2
- From here we were joined by a Turk, who was also going part of the way to Scutari, and we were glad of his company, for he knew the way, and none of us did. There were now no, roads which could be rec...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 3
- The mountaineers coming into the town are required to give up their rifles at the guard-house outside, but as they always have a revolver in their waistcloth this does not do much good. On bazaar days...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 4
- Returning to the village I found our supper nearly ready, and the floor of a carpenter's shed adjoining swept out and more or less tidied up for our reception. Squatting around the wood-fire on the fl...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 5
- All this was very painful, and though perhaps some of these tales were slightly coloured by national prejudice, still I knew enough to realize that in the main these terrible accounts were true, and a...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 6
- As I expected, a close cross-examination brought out the fact that they had never found any nests at all, and I firmly believe they had never even attempted to look. They had brought me to this place ...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 7
- There was no killing that day, and we pursued our journey in peace, arriving at the same village from which we had been turned away, in our search for Pelicans, by the three armed men. My very firs...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 8
- At last, one day (May 27), after many disappointments such as I have described, and many failures, I succeeded in finding a nesting colony of Ardea alba. I had been wading all day searching several th...
- The Search After The Great White Heron. Part 9
- I had started the search with a pair of wading-trousers. They were very old, however, and had seen much service in England, Scotland, Spain, Holland, and Denmark, and were nearly worn out when I start...
- IX. Birds'-Nesting In Hungary
- In all the capitals where I carried introductions to the leading naturalists I met with a most cordial reception and the greatest possible kindness. And to the circle of ornithologists in Budapest I s...
- Birds'-Nesting In Hungary. Part 2
- Here I also heard for the first time in my experience the curious, reeling note of Savi's Warbler (Loctistella luscinioides), which vanished from our Eastern counties more than fifty years ago, owing ...
- Birds'-Nesting In Hungary. Part 3
- I hardly expected to find the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) nesting at such a late date, but on mentioning the name to my man he at once took me to a small colony in an out-of-the-way corner. The eggs...
- Birds'-Nesting In Hungary. Part 4
- Under Herr Cerva's guidance I visited a distant marsh where we found many birds nesting of great interest to me. It was an extraordinary place ; no stranger could have told that there was a marsh at a...
- X. The Balkans Revisited
- 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 c...
- XI. The Balkans Revisited : Albania
- On returning to Durazzo I had again to face the vexations of the custom-house. It will, perhaps, hardly be believed, but the gun, rifle, pistol, and cartridges which had been seized before and returne...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 2
- Dalmatian Pelicans (Pelecanus Crispus) The fact was that I hadn't fired a shot-gun for nearly thirty years, until last year, and then only for collecting purposes, when sitting shots are the rule; ...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 3
- This time we struck out a new route which we imagined would be shorter, and hoped to do the whole journey in one day. As it happened, however, the advantage we had gained in actual distance was lost b...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 4
- I should have much liked to spend a week exploring the pine-forests. No doubt the Sea Eagles, observed daily harrying the Coots and Gulls, must breed there, and perhaps other raptores, of which we saw...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 5
- When at last we reached the nest, which was placed on the top of a huge pollarded oak, a fine Sea Eagle flew off. Having set up the camera and made a screen of branches, the men and horses were sent b...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 6
- There are a good number of these beasts in Albania. I often heard them howling at night while staying on the borders of the forest, and on one occasion I saw one run in front of us as we were riding b...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 7
- This family with whom I stayed, a self-invited guest for a week, treated me with the utmost kindness and courtesy. They were three brothers, Hilo, Filipo, and Drek Kanchay, and they all lived together...
- The Balkans Revisited : Albania. Part 8
- The Albanians are a fine people, with many good qualities, and I never felt more comfortable and thoroughly at home in my life than while living with them and sharing in their usual mode of life. Hosp...
- XII. The Balkans Revisited : Montenegro
- When the steamer reached Dulcigno on April 6, 1907, there was, as usual, a strong sirocco wind blowing, and we had to proceed to Val de Noche. I have always been unlucky on arriving and departing f...
- The Balkans Revisited : Montenegro. Part 2
- I begin to see now why this town appears so Turkish in character. Of course it is Turkish, or rather was so up to thirty years ago, when it was a Turkish port and part of the province of Albania. B...
- The Balkans Revisited : Montenegro. Part 3
- A large proportion of my visitors were beggars, and amongst their number was a certain ragged and dilapidated Turk whom I seemed fated to meet wherever I went. I had seen him first at Durazzo, where h...
- The Balkans Revisited : Montenegro. Part 4
- On the 15th of April I obtained a pair of Marsh Sandpipers (Totanus stagnatilis) and a female Lesser Kestrel. On the 22nd of April we visited again the Heron colony. The nest which had held one egg a ...
- XIII. Collecting In The Dobrudscha
- I now return to the previous years' work. Arriving at Bucharest about the 20th of June, 1906, I found everybody in a state of excitement over the exhibition, which was on the point of opening. I had i...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 2
- These three men were willing and obliging- at least two of them were, the other, a silent yellow man with a Tartar-like cast of face, spoke hardly a word, good or bad, to anybody. He must have come fr...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 3
- The moment the sharp, upturned prow of our lodka pushed through the fringe of reeds which concealed some more open pool, squattering flocks of Coots and White-eyed Pochards (Fuligula nyroca) would has...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 4
- Early in the morning we re-embarked in our lodka, after laying in a stock of bread, chickens, and other provisions ; and, passing out of the entrance of the Danube mouth, set our sails, and steered ou...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 5
- With no word of explanation, as soon as we could get our boat free and under weigh again, we sheered off and left them to make their way as best they could, while we continued our voyage towards a dis...
- XIV. Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 6
- When I next visited the Dobrudscha in the middle of May 1907, matters were not looking very promising. A serious uprising of the peasants had just been suppressed by troops and artillery. Many village...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 7
- One of these sub-prefects I shall never forget. He was drinking with a priest, a pope of the Greek Church, at a wine shop we had stopped at for some food. Seeing that we were strangers, he came up and...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 8
- There were some delightful little streams running through the valleys, and at one of these we rested and ate our lunch lying on the soft turf, listening to the babble of the water and watching; the su...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 9
- Returning this day in single file along a stony path, three of us walked over a Viper coiled up behind a stone. As Rettig passed just behind me, the last man saw it strike at his foot, and called us b...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 10
- The next day we returned to Malcoci, and were not sorry to take it easy for a day or two after our exertions, visiting some of the colonies of Bee-eaters not very far from the village, for eggs and ph...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 11
- We had also expected to collect some larvae of the moth Laelia caenosa, of which I had seen such numbers in the previous year ; and in this we were not disappointed. We found about a hundred of them o...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 12
- 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 o...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 13
- How to procure fuel was the first difficulty ; and while Rettig and I hunted about for a dry spot, Ivan and Zincon went off in the lodkas in search of dry reeds, in which they were fortunately success...
- Collecting In The Dobrudscha. Part 14
- 1 Tausende und Tausende von Pelicanen mussen hier gewesen sein ; Cormorane und Phalacr. pygm. Spalax Typhlus It fairly made my mouth water when I read this letter, to think that we had m...
- Appendix
- List Of Species Met With, And Localities o Eggs taken. + Skins procured. Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus, Linn. Albania. Song Thrush Turdus musicus, Linn. Spain, Albania. Blackbird ...
- Appendix. Continued
- Egyptian Vulture Percnopterus neophron, Linn. Spain, Albania, Roumania. Marsh Harrier Circus ceruginosus, Linn. Spain, Roumania, Hungary, Montenegro, Albania. Pallid Harrier Circus pall...
