on Spanish Ornithology . 87 



monotony of endless wastes of water were the birds ; a 

 shrieking^ clamouring crowd liung overhead, while only a 

 few yards off the surface was dotted with troops of Stilts, 

 sedately stalking about knee-deep — in no other situation do 

 their long legs enable them to feed. Further away large 

 flights of smaller Waders flashed, now white, now dark, in 

 the sun : most of these were Eing-Dotterels, Dunlins, and 

 Curlew Sandpipers, the two latter in full breeding- plumage. 

 A Marsh- Harrier, oologically inclined, was being bullied and 

 chased by a score of Peewits, and now and then a little string 

 of Ducks high overhead would still remind one of winter. 

 Beyond these, the strange forms of hundreds of Flamingoes 

 met one^s eye in every direction — some in groups or in dense 

 masses, others with rigidly outstretched neck and legs flying 

 in short strings, or larger flights " glinting " in the sunlight 

 like a pink cloud. Many pairs of old red birds were ob- 

 served to be accompanied by a single white (immature) one. 

 But the most extraordinary effect was produced by the more 

 distant herds, the immense numbers of which formed an 

 almost unbroken white horizon, a sort of thin white line sepa- 

 rating sea and sky round a great part of the circle. 



A incident occurred one day which is worth recording as 

 illustrative of the singular desolation of the scene. Far off 

 in the marisma I noticed two large animals evidently watch- 

 ing me. I saw they were not deer, which often come out 

 into the marisma, but never so far as to where I then was : 

 so, putting in ball-cartridge, I rode towards them. At about 

 400 to 500 yards they suddenly wheeled round and trotted 

 off with a shambling gait. There was no mistaking them 

 then, as soon as their broadsides were exposed to view ; they 

 were two camels, one much larger than the other ! 



I had heard on my first visit to this wilderness, eleven 

 years before, of the existence of camels therein, but was as 

 incredulous as, no doubt, my readers will now be. However, 

 I may add that some 40 years ago, or more, the experiment 

 of using camels was tried in Andalucia, as they are so gene- 

 rally employed on the opposite shores of Morocco. The 

 scheme failed, and the camels were set free in the marisma; 



