The Red-Leg Is A Determined Runner, And
Therefore A Bad Game Bird For The Shooter, As It Will Run Ahead When
First Disturbed And Rise Far Beyond Shot Range, Instead Of Squatting
Like The Grey Partridge And Permitting A Sporting Shot.
The francolin is
never found upon the bare hill-sides, neither is it a runner in the
open, although
It will occasionally trouble the dogs in the bush by
refusing to rise until they have followed it for some distance,
precisely as pheasants will run in covert until halted by the "stops" or
by a net. I am not sure of the power of resistance to cold possessed by
the francolins, as they are seldom met with upon the higher mountains in
Cyprus, but are generally found upon the inferior altitudes and low
grounds: still the hazel-huhn of Austria is a species of francolin which
resists the intense cold of a central-European winter.
Only one march remained to the extreme eastern limit of Cyprus, Cape St.
Andrea, distant fourteen miles. The country was exactly similar to that
which we had recently passed through, and although alike, it could
hardly be called monotonous, as the eye was never fatigued. The few
inhabitants were poor to the last degree; the dwellings were mere
hovels. We passed deep holes in the ground, the sides of which were
baked by fire, so as to resemble earthen jars about ten feet deep and
seven in diameter, with a small aperture; these were subterranean
granaries, the sure sign of insecurity before the British occupation.
The flat-topped hovels had the usual roofs of clay and chopped straw,
and projected two or three feet as eaves beyond the walls, which were of
stone and mud, exhibiting the crudest examples of masonry. The
projecting eaves were curiously arranged by hooks of cypress, like
single-fluked anchors laid horizontally, which retained beams, upon
which the mud and straw were laid; the heavy weight of the earthen roof
upon the long shanks of these anchors prevented the eaves from
overbalancing. Enormous heaps of manure and filth were deposited
opposite the entrance of each dwelling, and in the Christian villages
the most absurd pigs ran in and out of the hovels, or slept by the front
door, as though they were the actual proprietors. These creatures were
all heads and legs, and closely resembled the black and white
representative of the race well known to every child in the Noah's Ark.
It was rather disheartening to approach the extremity of the island, and
upon entering a long narrow valley our guide assured us that although no
apparent exit existed, we should ascend a precipitous path and
immediately see the point of Cape St. Andrea. The valley narrowed to a
point without any visible path. A few low hills covered with bush were
backed by cliff-like heights of about 300 feet also clothed by
evergreens. Upon our right, just below the steep ascent, were sand-dunes
and the sea.
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