THE OOLOGISTS' RECORD. 



Edited by KENNETH L. SKINNER. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



Vol. I -No. 3.] [September 1, 1921. 



A BIRDS '-NESTING TRIP TO ANDALUCIA. 



By H. KiRKE SwANN, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



My trip to Spain this year was much more fortunate than 

 that of last year, chiefly because I had more time and was 

 consequently able to get further afield and do more observing and 

 collecting. .1 was also fortunate in being able to get to the 

 Guadalquivir and the Cotos, the most desirable of all collecting 

 grounds in Spain. 



I left London on 31st March, a week later than last year, 

 and, travelling by the same route, reached Madrid on 2nd April, 

 going on to Seville the same evening and arriving at Coria, on the 

 river below Seville, on the afternoon of the 3rd. Here I met 

 my companion, J. H. McNeile. The only birds of note observed 

 on the way were one or two White Storks, Ciconia alba, 

 and Black Storks, Ciconia nigra, on the river between Cordoba 

 and Seville and a few Hoopoes, Upupa epops epops, in the olive 

 gardens. 



The next morning we rode out with a Spanish guide to the 

 pine woods, starting at g a.m., and riding all day, our mounts 

 being, I think, ex-stalking horses, which were quite incapable of 

 going at more than a sober walk unless constantly urged forward 

 by blows from one's stick. They had their own ideas of pace, 

 and mine took a lot of beating, philosophically, before it could be 

 induced to break into a trot, which it only kept up so long as the 

 stick was applied. They also had a detestable habit of following 

 in a line and my horse was only happy when he could see the tail 

 of the one in front of him. Consequently he took a lot of arm- 

 tiring efforts at the outset before he could be induced to break 

 the line when I wanted to ride off to examine a clump of trees or 

 any other object of interest. 



Our guide M — ■ — , was a famous fellow. He had been out 

 with many bird-men and was an expert tree-cHmbcr, while he 

 knew a great deal about the birds and their particular breeding 



A 



