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While they were gone, I took a few men to beat the low jungle within the forest for francolin partridge, numbers of which I had seen running through the covert. I went up the dry bed of the river at the junction of the Hor Gubba, while they drove towards me, and I was compelled to fire as fast as I could load, as these beautiful birds flew across the ravine. I shot five brace almost immediately.
Insects and beasts and birds loved the boulder. The sun-beetle and the orange-tip and peacock butterflies loved to bask on its hottest side, while the old dog-faced baboon squatted on top and chattered wisdom to his numerous family, and the finches and love-birds built in its crannies and bred their young, too often as food for the giant tarantula and the tree-snake; while the francolin and grouse dusted themselves in the hot sand at the base of its throne of rocks, and the springbok and the wart-hogs came down at night to drink; and the woolly cheetah and the red lynx came after the springbok and the wart-hog.
The most remarkable of the Persian birds are the eagle, the vulture, the cormorant, the falcon, the bustard, the pheasant, the heath-cock, the red-legged partridge, the small gray partridge, the pin tailed grouse, the sand-grouse, the francolin, the wild swan, the flamingo, the stork, the bittern, the oyster-catcher, the raven, the hooded crow, and the cuckoo.
The Greek partridge is "a fine red-legged bird, much larger than our red-legged partridge, and very much better eating, with white flesh, and nearly as heavy as a pheasant." The francolin or black partridge is also a delicacy; and the woodcock, which is identical with our own, has the same delicate flavour.
I agreed to have a long day's hunt with Taher Sheriff; we were to start before sunrise, as he wished to ride to a spot about twenty-five miles distant, up the course of the Royan, that was a favourite resort for elephants. That evening we had a delicious dinner of francolin partridges.
Bats also, if they may be counted among land-animals, are frequent; they belong, it is probable, to several species, one of which is Xantharpyia aegyptiaca. If the fauna of Phoenicia is restricted so far as land-animals are concerned, it is extensive and varied in respect of birds. Of these the most valuable for the table are the partridge, the francolin, and the woodcock.
As the fleet now slowly sailed against the strong, current of the Bahr Giraffe, I walked along the hank with Lieutenant Baker, and shot ten of the large francolin partridge, which in this dry season were very numerous.
On this trip we killed twelve pigs, a hundred and seven francolin, one lynx, and lots of cock and ducks. Coming back to the ship I, and those with me in my boat, very nearly came to utter grief. There was a good deal of sea on the bar of the river.
When the aardwolf came back, and sniffed out what he had done, he said things. Our jackal's head appeared at his hole next dawn as a francolin began to call, and a gray lowrie a mere shadow up among the branches started to call out, "Go away! go away!" as if he were speaking to the retreating night.
Getting over the bar of the river is a matter at times of considerable difficulty, but once inside the bar you are in the paradise of shooting. A small steam launch is necessary to stem the strong current, and to tow another boat up with tents, provisions, &c. Still we had some rare sport, the more especially with pigs and francolin.
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