18 On the Guadalquiver. 



were very inconspicuous, while we were plainly visible at 

 quite three miles distance. Consequently we found it 

 difficult to cultivate the acquaintance of the stone curlew. 

 For the first few days, when one rose, as they generally do, 

 about one hundred yards off, we rushed towards the spot 

 knowing that its mate, having run from the eggs in alarm, 

 would soon take to flight. But we were always out- 

 manoeuvred ; the bird ran as fast as we did, rose suddenly 

 at an impossible distance, and soon joined the other bird 

 a mile or two away. We had more success by waiting 

 quietly behind our stalking horses when the birds rose. 

 Not being so alarmed they did not fly far, and several 

 times we marked them down and stalked them successfully. 

 Often, however, they were suspicious even of the cabestro 

 and ran away from it like greyhounds. Only twice did we 

 surprise these birds. On each occasion the bird imme- 

 diately lay at full length, with head extended flat upon 

 the ground, and when we had approached to within about 

 twenty yards, it leapt suddenly into the air and was off 

 and away before we recovered from our surprise. We 

 found several pairs of their beautifully-marked eggs lying 

 side by side in the merest scoop on the hard ground. In 

 the more fertile country we came across the eggs among the 

 sand, closed in on all sides by high tamarisk bushes — a 

 curious place to be chosen by a bird which is a lover of 

 the open country. 



We were riding home one evening, tired and fly-bitten, 

 across a sun-burnt plain, when we saw an Egyptian 

 vulture give chase to a stone curlew, which we had 

 frightened into flight. The curlew was evidently not at 

 ease. It began by flying low and straight, then it dodged 

 and turned and flew round and up, calling plaintively all 

 the while. The ungainly vulture flew doggedly and 



