the Birds of Transylvania. 195 



and these generally turn out (men, women, and children) by- 

 order of the magistrate. Other small woods and ravines can 

 be tried more quietly : a few Wallachs, who are up to their 

 work, and three or four guns will do well enough. These 

 Wallachs are by far the best sportsmen of the country, having 

 the ways of the woods and game thoroughly by heart, and 

 for the sake of the sport, and a little tobacco and schnaps, 

 they will do any thing. We have never seen better perform- 

 ances than their quickness and endurance in driving chamois, 

 of which there are in some districts a good number. The 

 Retjezat and some of the adjoining hills are also preserved 

 by a club of sportsmen ; but outside their territory there is 

 plenty of ground and a good show of chamois. The country 

 is rocky, with here and there a good deal of creeping pine, 

 but not difficult to get over. The views to be got looking 

 down into Wallachia_, over an endless series of summits and 

 ridges, are alone worth the trouble of going up. The sports- 

 man should take a small tent with him ; or he will often be 

 very cold, and always well bitten, the poor unsquared-log 

 huts of the summer shepherds being full of wind-holes and 

 fleas. 



Wild boar do exist in the country, but are by no means 

 numerous ; towards the south-west is about the best district 

 to look for them. Wolves there are everywhere, but they are 

 hardly ever to be seen except in winter"^. Lynx are getting 

 rare, but are occasionally got in the south and north-east ; 

 and rarer still is the marmot, a specimen of which a gentle- 

 man told us he had shot in the Fogaras district five years ago ; 

 they have also been got on the Retjezat, and on the Rodnaer 

 and Szekler frontier mountains. Red deer are scarce ; the 

 best district is the Rothenthurm pass and other parts border- 

 ing on Wallachia. Roe deer are common enough; and it 

 seems to us that they are very large. One may go a long 

 way without seeing a hare ; its merits for the pot, for which 

 it is in most places killed at all sizes and times, will account 



* One young one, brought home by Danford, having been presented to 

 him by Professor Encz, of Klausenburg, is now in the Zoological Gardens, 

 Regfent's Park. 



