50 On the Guadahjuiver. 



but careful search was difficult owing to the swarms of 

 horse flies, as large and as yellow as hornets, and with a 

 bite that was villainous even through our clothes. More- 

 over, the field contained a number of magnificent black 

 bulls of famous fighting breed, which were enraged by the 

 flies and required constant discouragement with stones or 

 clods of earth. After half-an-hour's search we found a 

 little bustard, which ran swiftly through the long grass 

 and then flew up about a hundred yards away. In general 

 colouring it reminded us of the willow grouse in autumn, 

 by reason of its brown back and conspicuously white wings, 

 but the flight was altogether peculiar. The bird never 

 seemed to raise its wings above its body, but keeping them 

 arched downwards, beat them rapidly, and so flew in an 

 even slope until high up in the air. 



After further search we surprised a great bustard, which 

 also ran from us, and so effectually hid itself in the thick 

 tangle of vegetation that we failed to induce it to fly or to 

 find it again. This bird may have been a female with eggs 

 somewhere in the field, or it may have been a male 

 incapable of flight. Towards the end of May the great 

 bustard loses its quill feathers for a time, and has then to 

 seek safety in running and hiding. This fact may have 

 given rise to the notion that the bird always runs and can 

 be hunted with dogs. Except just at the time of the 

 moulting of the old quills and the growing of the new, the 

 great bustard could scarcely be coursed with dogs since it 

 takes to its wings on the shghtest alarm, and is capable of 

 powerful and sustained flight. 



On our return route to the river we passed through 

 field after field of rich pasturage containing bulls of every 

 age, all jet-black, of the finest fighting breed in Spain — 

 that of the Marques del Sartillo. 



