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.
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