to 
The great Pine Woods of Old Castile 15 
rama, which runs east and west some thirty miles north of Madrid, 
was the scene of our operations. The lower spurs, especially those 
on the northern side, are covered with vast pine forests extending 
for many square miles. At the time of our visit there was still 
a great deal of snow on the whole mountain chain, but the weather 
was beautifully fine and the sun not too hot ; in fact, the climate, at 
an elevation of 3,000 ft. to 5,000 ft. above the sea level, the usual 
height for our expeditions, was as near perfect as possible. 
The forests we explored are Crown property, and are most 
carefully guarded and administered by a regular corps of forest 
guards. They are dressed in a very smart dark brown uniform 
with scarlet facings and silver buttons, their wide-brimmed som- 
breros being adorned with the silver cockade of the Royal Family. 
They are all mounted and carry a small-bore carbine in a bucket 
on the off-side of their saddles, and on the near-side a heavy 
woodman’'s axe, used for blazing trees. 
The methods of forestry in these districts are simple enough, 
and, like most Spanish systems, are based on leaving Nature to do 
as much as possible of the work. As the pine trees grow up, the 
lower branches are lopped off at about 6 in. to 1 ft. from the 
trunk with the result that thousands of pines of all sizes are to 
be found, with stems of marvellous straightness and free from 
branches. 
Since the Vultures affect the largest trees and generally those 
with tall, branchless trunks, difficult to climb, it follows that sooner 
or later the day comes when the woodman places the fatal “ blaze” 
on the stem of some proud monarch of the forest which has afforded 
a safe asylum to the great birds of prey for scores of years. And 
so, year by year, the older and more favourite nesting-places of 
the Black Vulture are destroyed and the birds are forced to seek 
fresh sites in other districts. 
Having established ourselves in quarters some miles from 
