Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 153.djvu/424

—thereby putting him self two clear days' wages to the good, for a fox-skin commands five drachmas in Larissa market. Had the woodcocks been in, there would have been one in every bush, we were assured; the hard weather had driven them to the coast, and only four or five couple were bagged.

One of the prettiest sights of the day was afforded by a pair of white-tailed eagles which had their eyrie, a huge agglomeration of sticks, in the fork of an immense poplar not more than thirty feet above the ground. They were very bold, and it was not till several shots had been fired that they left their strong-hold, and rising slowly on broad pinions to a great height, they continued soaring far above our heads for the rest of the day. Birds of prey, indeed, were much more conspicuous in this preserve than game, and better opportunity could not be had of watching the habits of buzzards (both the rough-legged and common kind), kites, harriers, kestrels, sparrow and other hawks.

As it wore to afternoon the heat became oppressive: the party was scattered far and wide: game was scarce, and two of us made our way back to the carriages to rejoin a Greek friend who had accompanied us from Athens. Not being a sportsman, he had not joined in the chase: none the less, however, had he met with his adventure. Visitors to Thessaly are always cautioned about the ferocity of the sheep-dogs. These strong Molossian hounds are prized by the shepherds as the guardians of their flocks against jackals: if a stranger is attacked he may defend himself with a knife; but—such is the custom of the country—if he shoots one of them in self-defence, the shepherds shoot him, and there is not much chance of redress. Our contemplative friend was strolling along the wood-side, when he was suddenly set upon by two of these ferocious animals. A long black overcoat which he wore was instantaneously bereft of its tails torn off by their powerful fangs; and then, with admirable presence of mind, he bethought him of Ulysses' tactics when, on his return to Ithaca, he was attacked by his own dogs—he sat down.

It is an infallible recipe: the dogs accept the surrender: they are content with setting the trespasser at bay, and they keep him there till their master comes to call him to account. The lesson is worth bearing in mind by visitors in these lands; for the conduct of the sheep-dog is the single exception to the hospitality shown to travellers in the interior of Greece.

As this day of memorable brilliancy drew to a close, a remarkable display of bird-life presented itself. The great fresh-water lake of Karle, producing vast shoals of carp, and attracting large flights of wild-fowl, lies between the mountain-groups of Pelion and Ossa. It seems to be the remains of the inland sea which once flowed over the plains of Larissa and Trikala, the waters of which found an escape through the beautiful vale of Tempe. Immense flights of cormorants, coming from the direction of the Karlé lake, but possibly travelling from the Gulf of Salonike, farther to the east, appeared in the sky, moving steadily towards the nor'-nor'-west. The first and largest of these flights, formed in the shape of a huge V, could not have contained less than 1500 or 2000 birds. From point to point of the V appeared to measure about two miles. This