5 o SPORT AND TRAVEL 



along the ground, which, from my knowledge of the 

 great-crested bustard (Eupodotis cristata) of South 

 Africa, I should have expected from his somewhat less 

 bulky though nearly allied congener of Europe. After 

 this, although there were many more bustards dotted 

 about the plain, I found that they would not allow me 

 to approach within four hundred yards of them. After 

 trying two very long shots with no result, I returned 

 to the station, and told Pabli to get breakfast ready by 

 the time Dr. C. arrived, so that we might lose as little 

 time as possible in making a start for the hill. 



The train arrived in due course ; the Doctor and I 

 made a substantial breakfast, and then, accompanied 

 by one old Turk, made a start for the broken cliffs 

 and wooded corries of the Maimun Dagh, leaving 

 Pabli and Manoli to pack up the tents and baggage, 

 and get them conveyed to our camping-ground. 



Before proceeding further, I ought to say something 

 as to the nature of the country in which I was about 

 to hunt; but I will content myself with a few sen- 

 tences on this head, referring my readers for a fuller 

 description of the ground to one of the best books on 

 big game-shooting that I have ever read; namely, 

 "Short Stalks," by that experienced sportsman and en- 

 tertaining writer, Mr. E. N. Buxton. In the chapter on 

 the " Father of all the Goats," will be found a full de- 

 scription of the Maimun Dagh. Suffice it to say that 

 one face of this mountain is very broken and in many 

 places precipitous, cut into numberless ravines and 



