280 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



and splashed many a time, then scrambled up one of the very 

 steep spurs, generally thickly covered with dense wineberry 

 scrub, to the main ridge, in the hope of seeing something good, 

 a hope always disappointed ; only once did we get a glimpse of 

 a fair stag. He had seen or winded us long before and was 

 making best pace up a ridge several hundred yards away. Wild 

 pigs there were many of all sizes and colours, some wild cattle 

 and wild sheep, many hinds and small stags, but too small to 

 shoot, being useless as food and with heads not worth carrying 

 away. Fortune did not smile on me, and although I stayed a 

 fortnight in those parts no stag worth a shot came within 

 reasonable distance. Other people got a few moderate heads, 

 very few certainly, but I not a chance at even one. Our camp 

 was too far from the best ground. It certainly was very 

 beautiful in those mountains ; the views were very lovely and 

 the time passed in watching was delightful ; all was green and 

 bright. Towards the end of my visit it began and continued to 

 rain heavily for days and nights together, the camp became a 

 swamp ; luckily a big fire of black pine under cover in the cook- 

 ing tent enabled us to keep our clothes more or less dry. At 

 last the wet monotony proved too disagreeable and I was glad 

 to get away. 



The guide and I, however, had not been altogether alone in 

 our retreat ; a pair of owls lived near us and every evening one 

 of them woke up and roused the other with a loud " hyah ! 

 hyah ! " followed by cries of " more pork, more pork," to be 

 presently answered in similar language by his mate. One, 

 evidently the lady, repeated in a minor key every cry of the 

 male; when tired of "more pork" they would chatter away in 

 less intelligible language, one strictly following the other's lead, 

 until " more pork" once again came under discussion. They 

 would thus talk by the hour in a sweetly plaintive voice, to 

 which I used to listen with delight it seemed such a very 

 interesting conversation of a very affectionate couple. At last 

 these our friends also became tired of the perpetual downpour, 

 which had already continued for more than two days and nights, 

 and startled us in the middle of the day by a sudden single cry 

 of " more pork " in a voice expressive of the greatest disgust and 

 indignant protest against that most disagreeable weather. They 

 were truly delightful owls ! There was another charming bird, 



