BLACK SEA COAST. 81 



the ground. My own assertion that with us the 

 pheasant roosts in trees as a rule, and seldom, if 

 ever, on the ground, was ridiculed by both the 

 German and the forester, which, as both appeared 

 to be fairly keen observers, would lead one to believe 

 that the perching of our pheasants is an acquired 

 habit, and not common to their wild congeners. 



As we wended our way homeward, we heard 

 in front of us the bells of a troika, and on the 

 bridge we overtook it. The horses were stopped, 

 and a volley of Russian salutations, in a voice 

 that might have shaken the clouds, greeted us, 

 while slowly from the folds of a dozen or more 

 wraps, a grim, gaunt figure of an old Cossack 

 colonel, about 6 feet 3 inches in length, unrolled 

 itself. The old gentleman was vociferous to a 

 degree, and much given to kissing and bebrothering 

 his friends. Having hugged the forester several 

 times, almost shaken my arm out of its socket, 

 and given a multitude of directions to the driver, 

 whom he addressed alternately as ' son of a dog ' 

 and ' little dove/ he unearthed a quart bottle of 

 vodka, and patting it fondly, conveyed it to the 

 forester's hut, there to give his host a drink, and 

 tell us all about himself Although very red-faced 

 and very grey-haired, this veteran was about as 

 fine a Cossack as any I ever saw, with the bois- 

 terous manners of an English schoolboy, added 

 to the peculiarities natural to a Russian. In about 



G 



