49 



CHAPTER IV. 

 Our Last Week in Fuerteventura. 



A^T'ITH the assistance of some of the peasants we 

 were now beo"inning to find more nests, or 

 perhaps it was that the birds had only just commenced 

 to lay. One morning- a man came into the village from 

 a distance, and said that he could take us to the nest 

 of a Guirre, this being the local name for the Egyptian 

 Vulture. We were told that the nest was placed in a 

 position in which it might be possible to photograph it, 

 and as this bird usually selects the most inaccessible 

 situation for its eyrie, it seemed worth while visiting 

 the place. 



We started off in a southernly direction, and had 

 covered a considerable distance before we passed a 

 lonely Jinca or farmhouse, possessing, as must do every 

 house that stands by itself in Fuerteventura, a water 

 tank. At this house we stopped to ask if one Zacha- 

 riah was about on the premises, but we were told that 

 he was in the ravine which skirted the farm with his 

 goats, accordingly we went in search of him. 



Our guide now shouted out "Zachariah," " Zacha- 

 riah," to which Lorenzo and Don Ramon joined their 

 voices, until the mountain-side which bordered the 

 ravine threw back a continuous echo, '* -reeyah, Zacha- 

 reeyah," but no Zachariah appeared ; so we sat down 



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