;302 Pictures of Bird Life 



coming down I always foiuid the liorse where I liad left 

 him, so that I could slip into the saddle and ride off to 

 the next one ; while eggs could be picked up from shallow 

 water, and even from level ground, without the trouble of 

 dismounting. 



On one occasion, while standing on my saddle to peer 

 into a large hole in a cork-tree, I saw in it two Barn- 

 owls, whicli were standing side by side in their usual sedate 

 and contemplative attitudes. One of them flapped out in 

 my face, and the other was grabbed before it could make 

 its escape. There was no nest, nor any sign of eggs, and 

 my capti\'e was soon released. Soon afterwards another 

 Earn-owl flew from a hole at the end of a broken branch, 

 in which we found freshly hatched young, clad in pure 

 white down. The Barn-owl (" I^echuza ") is Aery much 

 disliked by Spaniards, who view it with the same super- 

 stitious alarm with which it is regarded l)y the ignorant of 

 most European nations. 



The old cork-trees were nearly always full of holes, 

 which serve as convenient nesting-places for numerous Jack- 

 daws, Rollers, and three different species of Owl. Underneath 

 the soft spongy l)ark the wood is intensely hard, but in 

 spite of this the Spanish Green A\^oodpecker {Gcciuiis 

 sJuirpii) bores large holes down into the interior. 



V\Q ne\er succeeded in getting eggs of this Woodpecker, 

 though they are exceedingly common, but twice found their 

 holes occupied by I.,ittle Owls. In one were foiu- eggs, and 

 in the other we caught the old bird, which was reluctant 



