116 Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, fyc. 
expect to find in the neighbourhood of Tarsus, a port which 
may be easily reached by the French and Austrian steamers of 
the Levant line from Smyrna and Rhodes. 
“A shooting excursion in the Cilician Taurus would be no 
disagreeable amusement; for it would not be difficult, directly 
on leaving the steamer down in the plains, to kill Francolins, 
Wild Swine, two species of Gazelles, the yet undetermined Stag 
of the Pyramus woods, Beavers, black Fishing-otters, Jackals, 
and striped Hysenas, not to speak of a multitude of marsh and 
water fowl, with which the wide sedgy expanse of brackish 
waters abounds. 
“ When the heat of the plains becomes excessive, the sports¬ 
man may ascend to the hills to search out the Leopards in the 
rocky hollows, which, however, are among the rarities. But the 
Boar is not uncommon in the mountain woods, the Ptarmigan, 
Jackal, and striped Hysena ascend up to an elevation of 3000 
feet, and the great pale yellow Vulture is to be found wherever 
a beast is killed. Passing through the wide woods, which girt 
the hills, one meets with the Syrian Bear, and hither too the 
Leopard retreats in the summer time from the heat of the low 
country, while the black-eared Lynx makes his permanent 
abode here in company with the Bears, which ravage the vine¬ 
yards. Badgers too, Syrian Squirrels, Hares, Foxes, and par¬ 
ticularly Jackals, are not uncommon in the neighbourhood of 
the villages, and the Wild Boar range through the valleys up to 
the borders of the hills. Of feathered fowl, Ptarmigan and Wild 
Doves are generally diffused. The Moufflon is seldom seen, yet 
the inhabitants of Giillek get from 10 to 20 head every year. 
What has been already said might perhaps seem sufficient to 
show that Cilicia invites the visit of the sportsman. But the 
most noble game of all inhabits the mountain region. The 
Steinbock* exceeds the European species in dimensions by one- 
third. It often reaches a length of 6^ feet. In its company 
live Viverra sarmatica, and a noble bird, possessing a fine-sound¬ 
ing call, Tetraogallus caucasicus. They all find a follower in 
the Gypaetus, which is however rare.”— Kotschy,‘ Reise in den 
Cilicischen Taurus fiber Tarsus/ Gotha, 1858. 
* Perhaps Capra caucasica, Gfilderst.?— Ed. 
