BULGARIA 



441 



Partridges and hares are scarce round Sofia, but during- the passage 



there is very pretty woodcock shooting. The flight rarely lasts more 



than a fortnight, but, if the weather is favourable, ten to twelve 



brace can be shot in a short day. A companion and myself once 



started out from the club after lunch on hearing the 



Woodcock. 

 cock were in, and were back for afternoon tea 



with fifty-two cock, which we shot on the lower slopes of the 



Vitosh. This mountain rises from the Sofia plain and dominates 



the town. A few roedeer are now and again seen and shot close 



to the town, and one day my friend Count Starzensky, one of the 



keenest and best sportsmen I have ever known, had khubr of a 



family of wolves on the top. An hour and a halfs climb took us 



to the spot, and we tied up a lamb without success. 



Wolves. 

 Next morning, though, the Count took a snapshot 



at about 220 yards at a galloping wolf, and had the satisfaction of 



findinQT it dead behind the rock, where we had lost sioht of it. 



The newly-constructed line to Radomir has opened up a new 

 country for partridges, hares, and quails, and I have had some nice 

 shootino- at the terminus. Pernik is another village close to Sofia 

 by train, where, with luck, a big bag of grey partridges, not to men- 

 tion countless quail, may be made. The streams on the Vitosh hold 

 small trout, as, in fact, do all the mountain rivulets in Bulgaria. 



A day and a half from Sofia lies the Monastery of Rilo, on the 



Rhodope. I made a trip there with Count Starzensky to look after 



chamois, which were vaguely reported to exist on the 



Chamois. 

 summits. We began the ascent, but were overtaken 



with such bad weather that I returned. My companion, however, 



