BIG GAME IN GREECE 401 



guess. It can only be hoped that some endeavour may be 

 made to protect the harmless wild animals of that country by 

 a few years' close time, rigidly enforced. Till the end of that 

 close time I cannot advise any English sportsman to go there. 



My attention has recently been called by an article, written 

 by a Greek, to the recent existence of an interesting feral 

 animal in that country. The writer says : — 



" Even more regrrettable is the total extinction of a herd of 

 some five or six hundred wild oxen which roamed until quite 

 recently in the trackless reed-beds around Lake Copais. They 

 were gradually exterminated by peasants who used to lie in 

 ambush in the shallows of the lake, and who sold the carcases 

 of those noble beasts in the market-place of Levadia as ' wild 

 beef.' The draining of the lake and the burning of the reeds 

 saw the last of them." 



Note. — The above facts may be advantageously brought to 

 the consideration of the Australian Government, which is 

 now issuing licences, without limit of nuvihers, authorising 

 the licensee to shoot the fine feral bufialo of Melville Island 

 and the northern coast. It is true there is a prohibition 

 against shooting cows and calves, but practically no steps 

 are taken to enforce this. 



2 c 



