on Spanish Ornithology . 83 



Donaua and the marisma. While crossing the river above 

 San Lncar^ an Ospre}^ was observed^ and numerous Black 

 Kites were, as usual_, busy fishing in the tideway. On the 

 4th, a nest of the Booted Eagle contained two eggs, nearly 

 fresh. On the side of the nest, from which I killed the 

 female Eagle, lay a large lizard and half a rabbit. A Kestrel's 

 nest in a pine contained six fresh eggs partly covered with 

 fish-scales. Stopping that night at La Marismilla, I found 

 two nests of White Owl {Strix flammea) in the roof. There 

 were six eggs and three young birds, all mixed ; and I cap- 

 tured both the old Owls on the nest. Next morning, shortly 

 after daybreak, in a rushy glade, I came suddenly on a herd 

 of about twenty wild pig, mostly females with their young : 

 probably the exigencies of the season accounted for their 

 being abroad at a later hour than is their habit. Later in 

 the day I almost trod upon the old boar, deeply slumbering 

 in an isolated thicket; he was grizzly with age, his fore 

 quarters looking almost white as he trotted across the sand. 



May 5th. To-day, in a long ramble along the edge of the 

 marisma, a great variety of wildfowl was observed. BufF- 

 backed and Squacco Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills, and Avocets in 

 considerable flocks among the rushes, where I obtained many 

 beautiful specimens by stalking. Further out on the shallow 

 water were still small parties of Ducks, probably on passage ; 

 but these were not accessible. Presently I made out with 

 the glass a score or so of red Knots, busily feeding along the 

 shore : while I was creeping down on them, a fine adult male 

 Marsh-Harrier rose from some rushes close at hand. I 

 knocked him down, and found he was lunching on one of the 

 Knots. The latter I could not mark down ; but I observed 

 seven Greenshanks feeding a little further oft', one of which 

 fell to a long shot : an immature bird. Curiously, I could 

 see no adults of this species, though early in March I had 

 found the old birds numerous in the '' salinas " near Tangiers, 

 but no young ones. The adults appear almost white at a 

 short distance. 



Our course lay across a wide bight of the marisma, which 

 there projects into the land. Crossing this, I fell in with 



g2 



