THE MUFFLON. 103 



" Whatever braggarts may assert and they are not 

 wanting, even in Corsica when the mufflon has seen 

 the hunter, it is by the merest chance that he can 

 touch him with a ball. He darts like a flash through 

 everything into the abyss ; and if he is wounded he 

 takes refuge in inaccessible crevices, where he dies, and 

 is soon devoured by the eagles and vultures. Often, 

 after many hours, and even days of searching, they 

 come upon him in the most impossible places, by 

 means of ropes and ladders. 



"The most frequent method is to occupy the high 

 mountain ridges, by which the mufflons fly the mo- 

 ment they hear the least noise. Some beaters are 

 stationed on the mountain sides, shouting and rolling 

 down blocks of rock with a noise of thunder ; and if 

 we are posted to windward, we are not long in seeing 

 the mufflons approach. 



"But the best sport that can be made is with one, 

 two, or at most three of the dogs of the country, 

 accustomed to the mountains and the game. 



" In winter the mufflons descend to where the snow 

 fails, and they do not pass over that limit unless they 

 are pursued. Ordinarily they are found on the wooded 

 sides of the mountains, or on the open spaces between 

 the great rocks. The hunters follow them into their 

 retreat in the snow, or rather on the borders of it. 

 This is very difficult, for the distance, the frost, and 



