BEAR-SHOOTING IN TRANSYLVANIA. 401 



On the 24th we amused ourselves during the middle of the 

 day with a little woodcock-shooting. The localities most 

 affected by the long-bills in that part of the country are the 

 large damp pastures, on which grow nothing but detached 

 birch and alder bushes, each bush being separated from the 

 next by a few yards of meadow. Nowhere does one find a 

 regular thicket, and as the ground is, moreover, very uneven 

 it is very difficult to divide it into beats and to post the guns. 

 The Woodcock, too, seldom fly much above the bushes, which 

 are about the height of a man, so that it is necessary to be 

 very careful, not only of the beaters, but also of one's neigh- 

 bours, and many birds escape without being shot at. 



On that day we found between thirty and forty cock, but 

 only bagged ten. We also shot a couple of Jays and two 

 hares rare and much- prized animals in Transylvania. A 

 fine Spotted Eagle, which came sailing along quite uncon- 

 cernedly in one of the beats, also received a heavy dose of 

 small shot, but though its plumage was much cut up it 

 managed to get away. 



On the 25th we arranged to try for bears in a side valley 

 close to Gb'rgeny, which being divided into natural beats is 

 one of the easiest bits of ground to drive in that locality. 

 The left slope of this valley is long, rather steep, but not 

 high, and is densely wooded, while the villages and meadows 

 at its base, and the broad plateau of pastures and fields 

 above it, prevent the bears from leaving the covers during 

 the day, and when it is well driven they must come to the 

 guns. 



We divided it into three beats, and began with the middle 

 one, which was the thickest, the guns being posted along a 

 path partly among the bushes and partly in a copse. 



Nothing was seen but some fresh tracks of a largish bear, 

 which had probably withdrawn from the woods frightened by 

 the noise, for they were not there in the morning, so at the 



2D 



