380 Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 



partridges, which are extremely abundant here. We found the 

 Spotted Cuckoos in the open plain far away from anything 

 worthy the name of tree. The pretty little Spectacled Warblers 

 [Sylvia conspicillata) enlivened the solitudes with their lively 

 actions and hurried notes, whilst the four common Spanish 

 Larks kept rising at almost every step. The specimens of Gale- 

 rita cristata which I obtained in Spain are decidedly smaller 

 and more rufous in colouring than the average from other parts 

 of Southern Europe * ; and I fancy that Spanish examples of 

 Melanocorypha calandra are less distinctly marked than those of 

 Italy ; but I have not had opportunities of comparing these last- 

 named birds. Wherever there are trees in this neighbourhood, 

 there are to be found numbers of Lanius rutilus, which is the 

 common Shrike of Spain ; Lanius meridionalis and Lanius minor 

 are not uncommon in Andalucia, and Lanius excuhitor is found 

 occasionally in the north. I have reason to believe that the 

 North African Teleophonus tchagra occurs in certain places in the 

 extreme south-west of Spain ; but it is certainly not common in 

 any part of the country, and is probably very locally disti'ibuted. 

 From May 15th till the 24th I was quite laid up and unable to 

 leave the house; but Manuel kept M. Michel well employed, 

 bringing in one evening two very fine adult specimens of Vultur 

 monachus, which he killed as they were regaling upon the re- 

 mains of the fox he had shot amongst the rocks of Sotomayor 

 on April 29th, as before mentioned (p. 184). He also brought 

 in several Egyptian Vultures [Neophron percnopterus) killed from 

 their nests in the range of cliffs at the spot just mentioned ; and 

 Agapo managed with considerable difficulty to procure three 

 eggs of this last-named species, all incubated. The stench from 

 one nest was, he told me, so abominable that even he, hardened 

 as he was by the perpetual consumption of garlic and bad 

 tobacco, could hardly make up his mind to swing himself into 

 the cleft in which it was situated : the cause of this overpowei'- 

 ing perfume was an accumulation of putrefying snakes, which 

 both Manuel and Agapo seemed to consider an unusual occur- 

 rence. In the other nests nothing more offensive than bones of 



* [This would appear to be G. theclce, L. Brelini, ' Naimiaunia/ 1858, 

 pp. 210-213.— Ed.] 



