290 Pictures of Bird Life 



surface was s])lit up into countless cracks and reticulations ; 

 but here e\'eiT footstep sank deeply, and it was with difficulty 

 the beasts were able to drao- their feet out again. Sometimes, 

 aoain. we waded through shallow water or deeper creeks, 

 Avhere it was as nuich as we could do to cross without 

 swimminii". And this was what Benitez had described to me 

 as a "ood road — " un bueno camino " ! I l)elie\'e he really in 

 this case lost his way, for we returned afterwards in nuich 

 less time, and the going- was certainly better. 



I do not believe that there is a decent road in the 

 whole of Andalucia. If there is, I nevev saw one : even 

 in the large towns the streets are bad enough. There is no 

 Avheeled traffic possible from place to place. E\-erything is 

 carried by pack-mule, or " borrico," strings of donkeys being 

 often met with in the most out-of-the-way places, laden with 

 goods ; and all travelling is done on horseback. 



Our progress, as we plodded along, was sometimes amid 

 the famihar cries of Lapwings and Redshanks, mingled with 

 those of stranger birds. A\^e now passed for the first time 

 numbers of Stilts wading in the shallow water. They allowed 

 us to ride within a few yards, and when they Hew their extra- 

 ordinary long red legs were stretched out straight behind. 

 Pratincoles flew round, looking on the wing like huge 

 Swallows. Eagles and Kites soared o\'er the pine- and cork- 

 trees, and in the more marshy spots we were accompanied 

 by Black and AMiiskered Terns. Around every group of 

 cattle and half-wild horses, feeding on the succulent water- 

 plants, and often perched on their backs, were numbers of 



