MOUFFLON-STALKING IN CYPRUS 371 



Valley. About noon we ''jumped" two moufflon, 

 both rams I think, but only saw one. Anastasi put 

 the mishap down to the wind, which certainly was 

 most annoying, but I thought he had not exercised 

 his usual care in approaching the gully in which they 

 were feeding. The wind was, however, undoubtedly 

 the cause of our only getting a hurried glimpse of 

 another ram in full flight, an hour later. 



Although there was plenty of fresh sign we saw 

 no more game, and having eaten our lunch in a side 

 valley, which I was destined to know better next day, 

 we climbed up to the Phyti-Stavro road, and returned 

 home, having been out eight hours. 



Three days out of the twelve at my disposal before 

 the season ended were now gone, and no shot fired. 

 Still, somehow, I did not feel despondent. 



The sixth was a better day — cloudy, with bright 

 intervals, and not too much wind. We left the hut 

 at half-past eight, and, going more to the south than 

 we had been this time, struck a ridge running in the 

 direction of my old camp — in fact we went within a 

 quarter of a mile of Ayias. A mule-track leads from 

 that place to the Stavro road, and where that track 

 leaves the Kouphoplatanou Valley we stopped for 

 lunch about noon. Then we followed the track up- 

 wards, and in about a quarter of an hour Anastasi 

 saw game — two rams in a small valley. Unfortun- 

 ately the wind was bad, and scarcely had I caught 

 sight of them than they were off. 



The old man led me by a rough left-handed climb 

 to a knoll high above the valley, which turned out to 

 be the one in which we had lunched the previous day. 

 We lay down and looked everywhere, but of moufflon 

 nothing was to be seen. The other inhabitants of the 



