BEAR-SHOOTING IN TRANSYLVANIA. 401 
On the 24th we amused ourselves during the middle of the 
day with a little woodcock-shooting. The localities most 
affected by the long-bills in that part of the country are the 
large damp pastures, on which grow nothing but detached 
birch and alder bushes, each bush being separated from the 
next by a few yards of meadow. Nowhere does one find a 
regular thicket, and as the ground is, moreover, very uneven 
it is very difficult to divide it into beats and to post the guns. 
The Woodcock, too, seldom fly much above the bushes, which 
are about the height of a man, so that it is necessary to be 
very careful, not only of the beaters, but also of one’s neigh- 
bours, and many birds escape without being shot at. 
On that day we found between thirty and forty cock, but 
only bagged ten. We also shot a couple of Jays and two 
hares—rare and much-prized animals in Transylvania. A 
fine Spotted Eagle, which came sailing along quite uncon- 
cernedly in one of the beats, also received a heavy dose of 
small shot, but though its plumage was much cut up it 
managed to get away. 
On the 25th we arranged to try for bears in a side valley 
close to Gérgény, which being divided into natural beats is 
one of the easiest bits of ground to drive in that locality. 
The left slope of this valley is long, rather steep, but not 
high, and is densely wooded, while the villages and meadows 
at its base, and the broad plateau of pastures and fields 
above it, prevent the bears from leaving the covers during 
the day, and when it is well driven they must come to the 
guns. 
We divided it into three beats, and began with the middle 
one, which was the thickest, the guns being posted along a 
path partly among the bushes and partly in a copse. 
Nothing was seen but some fresh tracks of a largish bear, 
which had probably withdrawn from the woods frightened by | 
the noise, for they were not there in the morning, so at the 
2D 
