IBEX-SHOOTING. 17 
The la^e game is more varied and plentiful in Andalucia 
than in Morocco. In most of the wooded valleys of the 
sierras^ near Gibraltar, there are a good many roe-deer {corzo) 
and a few wild pigs ; in some of the high sierras near Ronda, 
Ubrique and in the Sierra Nevada the Spanish Ibex is spa- 
ringly found ; but it is extremely difficult to get them without 
organizing a regular drive or batida — a very expensive affair, 
requiring a party of not less than eight guns, who must take 
tents, cooks, &c. up into the mountains; and then, if successful, 
as far as sport is concerned it is hardly worth while sitting 
for several hours behind a stone, nine times out of ten with- 
out even seeing an ibex. It is almost impossible to stalk 
them, as they lie hidden in the thick stunted fir and other scrub 
which is scattered in large patches on the mountain-sides, 
and are so wary that you cannot come suddenly on them like 
the roe-deer. However, in an ibex-shooting expedition, one 
is amply repaid by the magnificent scenery and the novelty 
of the affair ; but as far as shooting goes it is a failure, and at 
the lowest calculation every ibex killed by a Gibraltar party 
costs over £100. 
Ibex drop their young about the end of April; on one 
occasion a shooting expedition with which I was present suc- 
ceeded in getting two, both of which I sent home to the 
Zoological Gardens ; but unfortunately they did not long sur- 
vive. In the Sierra Morena, near Palma, a little to the west 
of Cordova, are red deer strictly preserved and well pastured ; 
the " heads " of the stags are very fine, which is not the case 
with those of the Goto Doiiana, near San Lucar de Barrameda. 
All these, however, being wood-frequenting deer, the antlers 
do not branch out very widely, most of the heads being rather 
narrow. It is in small-game shooting that Andalucia excels, 
though it is in no way equal to that of the countries in the 
east of the Mediterranean. Foremost, both in numbers and 
sport, is the Snipe-shooting ; for in some seasons, about No- 
vember and December, if the weather has been dry, it is equal 
to any that can be obtained; but all depends upon the 
weather, which, if wet, causes the birds to disperse over the 
whole country, while if it be dry they remain in the sotos or 
c 
