on Spanish Ornithology . 95 



From the rugged stony slopes of the sierras^ the energetic 

 mountaineers have reclaimed many patches of corn-land. 

 About these Emberiza cia and E. miliai'ia were abundant. 

 I failed to find the nest either of the first-named bird or of 

 E. cirius, which were also numerous in the lower valleys and 

 outskirts of the sierra. A high crag on the ridge of the 

 sierra was occupied^ by a colony of Alpine Swifts ; their 

 nests were in crevices of the rock^ and their flight strikingly 

 dashing and powerful. 



My two animals having fallen lame from loss of shoes, 

 caused me no small difficulty in extricating myself from the 

 heart of these rugged and pathless sierras. My non-arrival 

 in Jerez also caused extreme anxiety among my kind friends 

 there, who unfortunately connected my disappearance with 

 the accident (above mentioned) on the Guadalete. Incident- 

 ally I may remark that travelling in the wilder regions of 

 Andalucia is inseparably beset with difficulties at every point ; 

 but these I have purposely abstained from enlarging upon. 

 Eventually, after dragging the lame beasts some twenty miles, 

 we succeeded in getting clear. Passing the outlying spurs of 

 the sierra, a pair of large dark Eagles were noticed hunting 

 a scrub-covered ridge. The larger one presently swept down 

 upon an unlucky rabbit, and forthwith commenced to devour 

 it. The male Eagle thereupon perched on a stump 100 yards 

 or so further off. They were favourably placed for a stalk, 

 so riding round in a wide circuit, I crept down within 

 40 yards of the larger Eagle, and killed her as she rose. 

 This bird proved to be Aquila boneUii, a fine adult female. On 

 the 19th May, riding homewards over the low rolling hills 

 adjacent to the sierra, a great number of Little Bustards were 

 descried : they were extremely wild and watchful ; but after 

 great difficulty I managed to shoot a beautiful male from 

 horseback. I was at once struck with the extraordinary 

 appearance of the throat and neck, resembling a black ruff. 

 At first I thought this might arise from an effusion of blood, 

 as one often sees, in a less degree, in a shot Grouse ; but a 

 careful examination of this, and of another male I obtained 

 afterwards, showed that it arose from the inflation of the 



