24 SHORT STALKS 



the grove, and it was a common sight to see such giants 

 thus done to death and stretchino- their o-aunt arms to the 

 sky, or overthrown by the wind. On the day following 

 the one above described, I went some miles down the road 

 and explored carefully a valley thus wooded. The ilex 

 were splendid to look upon ; but though I tramped for 

 many miles through the snow, there was not a single 

 track of mouflon to be found, and the reason was suffici- 

 ently obvious. The ilex produce an immense crop of 

 acorns, and large droves of tame pigs are l^rought into 

 the woods under the charge of jxtstorali. The mouflon 

 therefore quit the neighbourhood of these forests. Now 

 our pet valley was free from such woods, with the excep- 

 tion of some small groves too remote for it to be worth 

 while to bring the pigs so far, and which were given over 

 to the wild boar. They had trodden the snow like a 

 farmyard. 



These boar lie too close in the daytime to stalk, and, 

 as a rule, can only be driven ; but on several occasions we 

 caught glimpses of them, and once, by a fortunate chance, 

 bao-cred one while stalkiuQ- mouflon. AVe were all tooether 

 on that day, and were sj^ying for mouflon from some high 

 rocks. One of our men was at the bottom of the slope 

 four or five hundred yards ofl", and started a fine boar from 

 a bunch of scrub. He came out into the open and stood 

 half-way down the slope, unconscious of our presence as 

 we were of his, until Enricetto jumped up, yelling " Cing- 

 hiale ! cinghiale ! " (wild boar) at the top of his voice, and 

 waving his arms. This was the Sard notion of the best 

 way to get a quiet shot. The boar started at his best 

 speed, and tore across the slope below us as if he had for- 



