16 



On the Guadalquiver. 



tically along as though he were altogether too fine a bird to 

 notice anything smaller than an eagle. Suddenly two peewits 

 rise from the ground and dash straight at that kite. He 

 swoops on as though he had noticed nothing. But the 

 screeching peewits whirl round again and attack him hotly 

 from above and below. Watch him carefully and you will 

 see him flinch and swerve, as time after time the brave 

 little birds dash into his face. When one pair of peewits 



Fig. 7.— Our Camp. 



has seen him safely off their preserves, another pair flies 

 up and attacks him, and thus he is *' escorted " across the 

 marismas. A pair of peewits is quite a match for a kite. 

 I have seen one forced to drop his meal — a piece of offal — 

 and fly away hungry because he happened to be too near 

 some peewits and their family. Strange to say, the 

 peewits do not attack the harriers so vigorously and per- 

 sistently, although they are even more numerous than 



