44 BIRD-HUNTING 



distance would be plainly visible sometimes broad, 

 reed-fringed pools, or busy havens full of shipping, 

 with the towers and cupolas of a phantom town 

 bathed in a mysterious golden haze. You knew 

 it was but the mirage, that such things had no 

 existence ; but so realistic was the deception that 

 it was almost impossible to believe that it was simply 

 an illusion. 



A few Buff-backed Herons were to be seen in 

 attendance on the groups of half-starved cattle. 

 They are called Garrapatosas — 'tick-eaters' — by the 

 Spaniards, from their habit of perching on the backs 

 of cattle and horses in order to free them from their 

 insect pests ; but their usual nesting-place, a remote 

 lagoon surrounded by leagues of desolate sand-dunes 

 and forests, had been completely dried up and 

 obliterated, literally stamped out of existence by 

 the cattle seeking in their thirst the last drop of 

 moisture. 



Gone was all the wealth of bird life which makes 

 this region of such intense interest to the naturalist. 

 The Flamingoes, the graceful Little Egrets, the 

 Night and Squacco Herons, the funereal Glossy 

 Ibis, the quaint Stilts, and Avocets had not arrived 

 this season, or if they had arrived they had gone 

 on elsewhere. The few Pratincoles, Redshanks, 

 and Plovers which could be seen did not appear to 

 be nesting. 



