Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 185 



shot on this day a beautiful specimen of Sylvia conspicillata, 

 which frequents the low aromatic shrubs in the dry parts of the 

 country, apparently preferring the districts in which there is a 

 dense growth of thyme. In a marshy elbow of the river, over- 

 grown with reeds, we flushed a Little Bittern, Ardetta minuta ; 

 but I did not get a shot, and I could not make him rise a second 

 time. In the reeds the Thrush Warbler, Acrocephalus arundi- 

 naceus, was very abundant, and kept up an incessant chattering, 

 very much like the conversation of a party of frogs, with occa- 

 sional snatches of song resembling that of the Reed-AVarbler, 

 Calamodyta urundinacea. Wc saw a pair of Marsh-Harriers, 

 Circus aruginosus, but did not succeed in finding their nest. 

 Four species of Lark — Alauda arvensis, A. cristata, A. hrachy- 

 dactyla, and A. calandra — abound in this district; but I think 

 that the Bee-eater maintained a numerical superiority over every 

 other species. In a damp grove of poplars by the river I shot 

 five beautiful specimens of the Bed-necked Nightjar, but could 

 not succeed in finding the eggs. I imagine they had only just 

 arrived. On the hills near Aranjuez we procured three species 

 of Wheatear — Saxicola cachinnans, S. stapazina, and S. aurita ; 

 the second is by far the most common of the three. 



Having heard of a Kite^s nest in the Queen's gardens, on 

 May 1st we went to look for it, and found it in the top of a 

 magnificent elm close to the palace. Manuel shot the bird, 

 which turned out to be a fine specimen of the Black Kite, 

 Milvus migrans, the first we had procured. Before sending 

 our climber up, we went on to examine another nest, of which 

 we had been told, in a high plane tree in another part of the 

 gardens. After some trouble we found it, and shouted in vain 

 for some time to make the bird leave it. Up went the trusty 

 Agapo ; but the bird sat close till he was within a yard or two 

 of the nest, when she dashed off", plainly disclosing to us the 

 fact that she was not a Kite. Manuel was badly placed for a 

 shot, and, though he fired, did not succeed in killing her. On 

 reaching the nest, Agapo declared that the two eggs which it 

 contained were white and unspotted. Manuel shouted to him 

 to know if the boughs in the interior of the nest had green 

 leaves on them, and, on his replying in the affirmative, declared 

 that it was a nest of the Booted Eagle, Aquila pennata. Agapo 



