128 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



mountain. Besides the nests of the short-toed eagle, 

 and the griffon and black vultures, I also discovered 

 the eyrie of a pair of lammergeiers (Gyps barbatus) 

 high up on the face of a precipitous cliff. It was, how- 

 ever, quite inaccessible without a rope. After a few 

 days, I began to get tired of the Maimun Dagh, as I 

 could find no more eagles' nests, nor manage to come 

 across a goat worth shooting ; so I determined to visit 

 the Ak Dagh before returning to Smyrna, as I knew 

 it was a good place for the large birds of prey, and 

 thought I might possibly get a stag there, too, though 

 it was now getting so late in the season that I feared 

 the older animals, that carried the best heads, would 

 already have cast their horns. 



On the afternoon of March 13, we went by train to 

 Sutledj, and there procured a country cart to carry 

 our things to a large farmhouse belonging to a Greek 

 gentleman, who has rented a tract of land from the 

 Turkish Government. At the time of our visit, the 

 owner of the farm was absent in Smyrna, but we 

 were most hospitably received by his bailiff. 



On the following morning, after some delay, we 

 succeeded in hiring pack-horses with which to proceed 

 to the Ak Dagh, and in the afternoon got our 

 tents pitched near a fine spring of water on one of 

 the passes over the mountain. In the evening the 

 weather turned very cold, and as there was very little 

 firewood about, I found it difficult to keep warm. 



The next morning broke cold and cloudy, and the 



