in the Dohrudscha. 369 



hood of Trajan's wall is also favourite ground for Bustards, 

 especially for the Little Bustards. These latter arrive from the 

 south rather before the middle of April, in flocks of consider- 

 able size, many staying to breed here whilst others are moving 

 further north. The male birds are particularly demonstrative 

 at this time of the year, and being often occupied in parading 

 their attractions in groups of ten or a dozen to the females which 

 are crouching somewhere in the grass, they are not so wide 

 awake as at other seasons, and thus afford a better chance to the 

 gun. On foot, even with a rifle, it is not easy to reach them ; 

 but with an araba judiciously managed, very fair sport may be 

 had. After a few months' experience of the stony mountains 

 and dense coverts of Greece, nothing can be more exhilarating 

 than a gallop in an araba over the breezy downs of the Do- 

 hrudscha in early spring. It is true that at starting you expect 

 concussion of the brain must necessarily ensue, as there are 

 no roads, and your driver dashes over all minor inequalities of 

 the surface ; but this feeling soon goes away, and you get on 

 famously until a wheel comes off, or until you make the un- 

 pleasant discovery that your powder-flask has been rattled out 

 of the cart, in which latter case you face about and retrace your 

 track till it is found. In these expeditions I and my friend R. B. 

 used to take it in turns to drive and shoot. But supposing all 

 these little mischances are overcome and Bustard-ground fairly 

 reached, a wild yet pleasing scene it is, on a sunny spring 

 morning, such as those which we had the good fortune to enjoy. 

 On all sides an undulating prairie, solitary in the extreme, yet 

 not destitute of bird-life. The traveller on his way back from 

 the south will here see the well-known Skylark [Alauda arvensis), 

 breeding plentifully in the midst of A. cristata and A. brachij- 

 dactyla. The Grey Partridge keeps pretty close, but occasionally 

 one will get up, in spite of the numerous Harriers that contri- 

 bute further to enliven the landscape, which also is seldom free 

 from the presence of one of the grass-breeding Eagles [Aquila 

 navia). Occasionally Vultures may be seen soaring aloft. Both 

 Gyps fulvus and Vultur monachus have been noticed : once I shot 

 at an individual of the latter species with a pistol. Now and then 

 passes a troop of Ducks or Wild Geese, a flock of Waders, or 



