Lord Lilforcl on the Ornithology of Spain. 383 



nest is found there will be four or five in its close vicinity, I 

 obtained several young birds, and regret very much that I found 

 it impossible to rear them. After a protracted and diligent 

 search, and a good deal of cutting and hewing with a clasp- 

 knife, guided by the chiding of the parent-birds, I succeeded in 

 finding a nest of Cetti's Warblers (Potamodus cettii) in a densely- 

 matted briar ou the bank of a small stream which runs through 

 these grounds. The young birds appeared to have only just 

 left the nest, and were hopping and chattering in the briars 

 close to it. The nest was built of dead leaves and a few fine 

 grasses, and was placed close to the ground. I several times 

 lifted my gun to shoot at the old birds, but refrained from firing 

 as they were too near me ; and most fortunate was it that I was 

 thus prevented, as, ou emerging from the thick covert, I found 

 that, had I fired in the direction of the birds, I must almost 

 inevitably have killed a very pretty fem'ale specimen of the 

 human species who was engaged in washing clothes within a 

 few yards of me, but whom I had neither seen nor heard ti. I 

 came out of the thicket. On informing her of her escape, and 

 expressing my satisfaction, she only laughed, and said, with true 

 Spanish coolness, " Ah, Caballero mio ! I should have gone to 

 heaven, and they would have done nothing to you, as it was an 

 accident." 



I found that Severini, the naturalist of the Carretera de San 

 Geronimo, had been on a shooting expedition in the Sierra 

 Morena, and had returned with two fine male specimens of the 

 Spanish Ibex {Capra hispanica), one of which I purchased; he 

 also had brought back a nest of the Long-tailed Titmouse {Acre- 

 dula caudata), which he considered a great curiosity, never 

 having before met with the bird or nest; nor did this species 

 ever come under my notice in Spain, I was surprised to find 

 in his shop a fine male Capercally {Tetrao urog alius) ; but I was 

 informed by a gentleman from the province of Asturias that 

 this fine game bird is by no means uncommon in some parts of 

 northern Spain, where it is known as " Gallo de bosque," and 

 also occasionally termed " Faisan." I have unfortunately, with 

 the exception of a ie.v{ days spent in Galicia in 1856, never 

 visited any of the northern ])rovinces of Spain ; but, from what 



