Those who possessed estates in the country, even when they lived in town, often went out to them to look after the management; hunting and bird-catching were also very popular occupations. The former especially was a favourite amusement. Hunting in ancient times was very different from what it is at the present day; this is partly due to the great difference between our modern firearms and the hunting implements of the ancients, partly to their almost universal custom of using nets, into which they drove the game and there killed it. These nets were used for nearly all quadrupeds which they hunted, and the strength and density of the meshes differed according to the object hunted, as well as the method of arrangement. There were in particular bag nets, which were drawn together behind the game when it ran into it, and falling nets, which were hung loosely on forked sticks, and when the animal ran against them fell down from the sticks and entangled it. Snares were also used for catching not only hares and foxes, but also larger four-footed game, such as boars and stags. In consequence of this custom of driving the game, and bringing it to bay, bows which were calculated for longer distances were of very little use in hunting; the animals were either killed by a light javelin thrown from a small distance, or, if the game had turned to bay, with a hanger, which was especially useful in boar hunting. Dogs were used for starting the game and driving it into the nets at bay, and the ancients devoted a good deal of care to their training; indeed, the important part played by dogs in Greek hunting is expressed by the Greek name for huntsman, which means “dog leader” (κυνηγός). They used to hunt boars, stags, hares; beasts of prey, such as wolves and jackals, were only hunted when they were dangerous to the herds; and larger animals, such as lions and bears, did not exist at all in Greece in historic ages, although the numerous legends of lion hunts bear sufficient testimony to their existence in earlier times. Birds were caught with nets, snares, traps, and lime; and, since Greece was by no means rich in quadrupeds suitable for hunting, bird-catching was one of the most popular occupations, and also a lucrative one. On the other hand, fishing, which was carried on with both lines and nets, seems never to have become a regular sport.