80 Mr. A. Chapman's Rough Notes 



whereupon numerous small dark ducks rose from the reed- 

 beds : their species was unknown to me ; hut as they appeared 

 loth to leave, we soon shot several as they circled round high 

 in the air, with rapid rustling flight, like that of a Golden-eye. 

 They were the Ferruginous Duck [Faligula nyroca), aud were 

 evidently breeding, though a search for their nests proved 

 futile. A month later, however, I obtained nests of both this 

 Duck and of the Gadwall, built among rushes on dry ground. 

 The latter, which is inappropriately called " Silbon real •" 

 {i. e. King-Wigeon, or Whistler) , is a very silent duck and was 

 always seen in pairs. In May I met with them singly, those 

 shot then being all drakes, rising from small rushy pools. 



In the tall reed-beds in mid- water were numerous Warblers, 

 notably the Great Sedge- and Reed- Warblers ; but owing to 

 the depth of mud and w^ater and the rank weeds, it was not 

 possible to reach the spot. Along the margin many of the 

 little Fantail Warblers frequented the shorter rushes, on 

 which they build their purse-shaped nests. I noticed this 

 species thi'oughout the winter. While driving the Ducks, 

 five Glossy Ibises flew over, passing within shot of Felipe, my 

 cazador, who, however, failed to stop them ; they were the 

 only birds of this species I met with in Spain. Among the 

 reeds, floating in about three feet of water, was a nest of the 

 Marsh-Harrier ; it resembled that of a Coot, and had perhaps 

 been built originally by that bird, many of which bred there. 



That afternoon (April 16th) I found in a tall detached cork- 

 tree a nest of the Imperial Eagle ; it was placed on the 

 extreme summit, and contained three down-clad young, pure 

 white. Two days afterwards I found another nest, this time 

 in a stone-pine ; in it were two eggs, slightly incubated. 

 They were almost pure white ; but an egg from a third nest, 

 taken on the 10th, was spotted with pale Indian red. This 

 last-named nest also contained two eggs, but the second was 

 broken by the " piiiero " who took them. There are still a 

 few pairs of this superb Eagle in the district, though their 

 numbers are sadly thinned by the greed of collectors since I 

 first met with them there in 1872. I obtained a pair of 

 magnificent adults from their nest — their deep brown, almost 



