184 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



of Portugal ; and it may readily be supposed that a country 

 intersected by rivers, whose banks are clothed with the 

 most luxuriant vegetation, abounding in wide-extending 

 forests, as well as vast uncultivated heaths, or sandy plains 

 covered with brush, with an open coast extending from 

 north to south, washed by the waves of the wide Atlantic, 

 furnished here with rugged rocks and there with cultivated 

 fields, and all lying under a climate which, for uuclouded 

 brilliancy of sun, and almost tropical heat, can scarcely be 

 matched in any other district of Europe, must possess an 

 Avifauna which, if properly investigated, would yield a 

 rich return to repay the exertions of the enquirer. 



Moreover, it is not alone in rare species that the orni- 

 thologist would expect to reap a valuable harvest, but in 

 the differences and shades of colour, and in the variation 

 of size, which even the commoner birds offer in different 

 localities, and more especially under different climates, 

 that he would look for interesting results in this extreme 

 south-western corner of Europe ; and to this point my 

 particular attention was directed before I set out on my 

 journey. 



Bearing this in mind, and resolved not to overlook the 

 commonest species, I took every opportunity, during my 

 few weeks' tour in Portugal, to examine all the birds which 

 came in my way. To this end I wandered through plains 

 and forests, by banks of rivers, and amidst the rocks and 

 mountains, armed with double-barrelled gun and double 

 field-glass — the latter, I take leave to add, quite as ser- 

 viceable to the student in ornithology as the former. I 

 also frequented the markets in Lisbon and other towns 

 every day at early morning, and overhauled all the 

 feathered bouquets composed of the smaller birds of all 

 ranks and orders, which seem so attractive to continental 

 epicures generally. Moreover, I visited frequently the 

 excellent Museum at Lisbon, and the indifferent one at 



