in the Dobrudscha. 
369 
hood of Trajan's wall is also favourite ground for Bustards, 
especially for the Little Bustards. These latter arrive from the 
south rather before the middle of April, in flocks of consider¬ 
able size, many staying to breed here whilst others are moving 
further north. The male birds are particularly demonstrative 
at this time of the year, and being often occupied in parading 
their attractions in groups of ten or a dozen to the females which 
are crouching somewhere in the grass, they are not so wide 
awake as at other seasons, and thus afford a better chance to the 
gun. On foot, even with a rifle, it is not easy to reach them; 
but with an araba judiciously managed, very fair sport may be 
had. After a few months' experience of the stony mountains 
and dense coverts of Greece, nothing can be more exhilarating 
than a gallop in an araba over the breezy downs of the Do¬ 
brudscha in early spring. It is true that at starting you expect 
concussion of the brain must necessarily ensue, as there are 
no roads, and your driver dashes over all minor inequalities of 
the surface; but this feeling soon goes away, and you get on 
famously until a wheel comes off, or until you make the un¬ 
pleasant discovery that your powder-flask has been rattled out 
of the cart, in which latter case you face about and retrace your 
track till it is found. In these expeditions I and my friend 11. B. 
used to take it in turns to drive and shoot. But supposing all 
these little mischances are overcome and Bustard-ground fairly 
reached, a wild yet pleasing scene it is, on a sunny spring 
morning, such as those which we had the good fortune to enjoy. 
On all sides an undulating prairie, solitary in the extreme, yet 
not destitute of bird-life. The traveller on his way back from 
the south will here see the well-known Skylark ( Alauda arvensis), 
breeding plentifully in the midst of A. cristata and A. brachy- 
dactyla. The Grey Partridge keeps pretty close, but occasionally 
one will get up, in spite of the numerous Harriers that contri¬ 
bute further to enliven the landscape, which also is seldom free 
from the presence of one of the grass-breeding Eagles ( Aquila 
ncevia). Occasionally Vultures may be seen soaring aloft. Both 
Gyps fulvus and Vultur monachus have been noticed: once I shot 
at an individual of the latter species with a pistol. Now and then 
passes a troop of Ducks or Wild Geese, a flock of Waders, or 
