442 SPORT IN EUROPE 



persisted, and after two days and nights, one of which was spent 



on a ledge a yard or so wide, exposed to the storm, he returned with 



a chamois on his back. Since then Prince P^erdinand has had several 



"drives" for chamois, but I believe has not succeeded in bagging 



any, although a herd ran through His Highness's picnic camp and was 



fired at by the servants. I have also seen and shot roedeer at Rilo, 



where the magnificent, almost virgin, forests probably also hold the 



red stag and the capercailzie. 



Whilst my companion was facing the storm on the top of the 



Rilo mountain, I was basking in the sunshine along the banks of the 



stream which supplies the monastery, and flinging the trout out of 



the crystal water on to the grass with a home-made 

 Trout. 



rod and tackle, consisting of horsehair and a barbless 



hook fashioned out of a hairpin, beaten, tempered, and sharpened 



on a stone. I used a small green grasshopper, and creeled five 



dozen, averaging from a quarter to three-quarters of a pound. It 



was said that there were larger ones lower down, but I have 



never yet caught a trout of a pound weight in any Balkan river, 



nor have I ever seen one caught by anybody else. The reason of 



this is that the natives net the narrow places and dynamite the 



deeper pools to such an extent that the wretched fish never have 



a chance. 



To the best of my knowledge, Bulgaria is the only country south 



and east of Austria where the capercailzie is found, although it may 



exist in Servia and in some of the Macedonian mountains. The 



discovery was due, again, to Count Starzensky, who located and shot 



two or three at Samakov. Since then Prince Ferdinand has 



