240 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



unmistakeable, and, if you hear it, pull yourself together, for a deer-coloured 

 body may spring across the couloir which you are commanding, either above 

 or below you, and won't wait till your hand stops trembling. Much more 

 frequently nothing happens at all, and the tension of your heart-strings is 

 finally put an end to by a sudden and unexpected yell from a beater, which 

 nearly cracks them outright. He appears round a corner of rock and looks 

 round in a bewildered way, for though he knows you are there, he cannot 

 see you till you rise stiffly and stretch the aching joints, with a sense of 

 relief that that penance is over at any rate. 



" Some interest is afforded by the birds and lesser animals. Flights of 

 thrushes coming from the direction of the drive afford the first indication 

 of the approach of the beaters, though these are still iuaudible. As you 

 are stationary, and nearly the colour of the rock, the live things do not 

 see you, and consequently come very close. A squirrel pattering over loose 

 stones is a good imitation of the sound made by the larger animal which 

 you are expecting. They are mostly coal-black, with a slight tinge of grey 

 on the tail — a very pretty species. When at last they discover the enemy, 

 they chatter angrily. Dusky jays express their views on things in general 

 in the same way as their blue-winged cousins do with us. The little Wall- 

 creeper is one of the prettiest birds ;— black and grey, with brilliant crimson 

 wings, and beak curved like a Curlew's. He flutters about the hot rocks — 

 a close imitation of a butterfly, — and this resemblance is enhanced by his 

 habit of spreading his wings in the sun when he alights. Eagles are 

 numerous, and the great Lammergeier is not rare. I have known as many 

 as five of the former to come down to the body of an Izzard, which had 

 been too much smashed by falling over the cliff to be removed, and commence 

 a furious contest before we had left it for five minutes. There are a few 

 Foxes about, and occasionally I have seen Pine Martens. One of these 

 animals came and sat within thirty yards of me. As the drive was nearly 

 over, I put a bullet through him, and he makes a very handsome mount 

 in my hall." 



We cannot close this volume without bestowing a word of 

 praise on the illustrations, which are excellent. The author has 

 been fortunate in securing the aid of Mr. Joseph Wolf, than whom 

 no better animal painter is to be found, and his characteristic 

 drawings of the various kinds of wild sheep and wild goats, which 

 delight the "stalker" and the naturalist, leave nothing to be 

 desired. 





