GREECE 191 



arrive they scatter over the country and, in the locaHties which they 

 favour, the thorn covers and the swamps become aHve with them. 

 With the autumn the massacre begins all through the Levant, and, 

 as the winter season draws near and birds become scarcer, sportsmen 

 pray for a fall of snow to drive the survivors down. 



IV.— WILD FOWL 



This class of migratory game is perhaps the most plentiful, when 

 in season, and it offers the most exhilarating sport in the Levant, 

 owing to the fact that the country abounds in well-sheltered bays 

 and inland waters, while the estuaries of most of the rivers are 

 undisturbed by habitations or the bustle of shipping. Many lagoons, 

 also, and marshes are formed by streams the flow of which is 

 still unregulated. Wild fowl, therefore, readily congregate in large 

 numbers in such secluded and safe spots, where food is plentiful 

 in the mud and in the washings from upland, and where reed-beds 

 and rushes, growing thick, afford excellent cover. 



The two principal centres for wild fowl are the neighbourhoods 



of the gulfs of Volos and of Salonica in the east, and Port Platea 



and the Bay of Butrinto towards the west. In the direction of 



Volos the best marshes are near Katerina, at the foot 



of Mount Olympus ; but they are not easy of access, ^^^^s, 



Salonica, 

 the coast being unsafe for small boats. Such difficulties, ^nd other 



however, and the uncertainties of the shooting of wild resorts. 



fowl, add to the charm of the sport. 



These points are annually visited by large Hocks of duck, both 



