342 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



and Serins wherever there are trees, a few Bee-eaters 

 skimming over the cornfields, one or two Storks 

 busily investigating any swampy spots, Swifts, Swal- 

 lows, and Martins taking their pleasure and food all 

 around, and very probably a Russet Chat flitting 

 about a fallow from clod to clod and very conspicuous 

 from the brilliant contrasts of his dress of white, 

 sandy, and black. It is not improbable that we may 

 see a Grift"on Vulture or two sailing, on almost 

 motionless wings, high in the air, and we have 

 almost always noticed one or two of the scavenger 

 Egyptian Vultures not far from Algaba, a village 

 always pre-eminently in need of their services. 

 Arrived at our destination, we find three men and two 

 beasts, and here I must pause to do justice to the 

 chief actor in the subsequent proceedings : imagine 

 in your mind's eye a little man, in features very 

 closely resembling Doctor Stanley, the late eminent 

 Dean of Westminster, clad in a scanty and very 

 flimsy jacket and blue cotton trousers, with the 

 invariable red ^'fcija " or sash about his loins, and 

 the conventional Spanish black plush " calanies " or 

 pork-pie hat, in the rim of which he carries his 

 tobacco, cigarette-paper, and tinder ; with not an 

 ounce of flesh upon the wonderful muscles and 

 sinews which underlie his sun-tanned skin ; add to 

 these details a pair of small and piercing dark eyes, 

 with that peculiar puckering of the skin around them 

 that comes from habitual scanning of the distant 

 horizon under a bright sun, and is so remarkable 

 amongst nomad Arabs and sea-farers, and you have 

 before you the famous " Perico," or, to give him his 

 proper designation, Seiior Don Pedro Molina, the 

 best driver of Bustards and one of the most typical 

 Andalucian peasants of my acquaintance, warranted 



