Bird Life in the Spanish Marismas 267 



ill tlie south of tluit eountiy, as their fartliest Jiortlieni hniit 

 in an ordinary wii>% tliou^li most of tliciu are represented in 

 our hst of British birds l)y a few stra^'glers which lia\e, at 

 long intervals, reached our shores. 



Tlie larger raptorial birds, wliieli are almost exterminated 

 in more populous and civilised countries, are here found 

 in great abundance. The carrion-eating ^^ultures nest in 

 numbers in tlie inaccessible heights of the sierras, and 

 range over the open country in search of food. The car- 

 cases of drowned oxen and sheep, and those of the luckless 

 horses, victims of the brutal bull-ring, are cleared away in 

 an incredibly short space of time by these scavengers, which 

 throng to the feast from far and wide. Even the very bones 

 disappear, the " Quebrantahuesos," the Bone-smashers, as the 

 Egyptian \"ulture and the Lammergeyer are called, carrying 

 them one by one high in the air, and then dropping them 

 on to the rocks in order to get at the marrow. The 

 (xolden P^agle and Imperial Eagle, Bonelli's and the Short- 

 toed Eagle, and the Booted Eagle are all to be found, 

 some of them preying on the rabbits and the smaller 

 quadrupeds, and others on the innumerable snakes and 

 lizards which aboimd in every direction. 



Of the larger Hawks, the Kites, partly carrion- and 

 partly reptile-eaters, are exceedingly numerous. The Egg- 

 eating Harriers are to be seen daily quartering the lower 

 gi-ounds and reed-beds for what eggs and young birds they can 

 find. The knightly Peregrine and the more humble Kestrel 

 are also numerc^us. But perhaps it is that extraordinary 



