54 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



lay a golden sunshine bathing the world with a warm light that miti- 

 gated the chill of breezes blowing over the snowbanks. Pajares Pass, 

 the frontier of the ancient kingdom of Asturias from which I had just 

 come, was a sharply cut dividing line between the better watered brush- 

 and tree-grown slopes descending steeply to the northern coastal plain 

 toward Oviedo, and the more arid gradual decline toward the broad 

 plains of Leon on the north with scattered mats of low brush as the 

 principal woody vegetation. 



Tn this world of open mountain slopes and meadows, birds were 

 abundant. Chaffinches, pipits, and yellow-hammers were everywhere. 

 Whin-chats and stone-chats were common, and skylarks sang above 

 the higher meadows, appearing as tiny specks hovering high against 

 a sky of the clearest blue. Wheat-ears followed stone fences or rocky 

 ledges, and white wagtails were found along the rough stream beds. 

 The latter, called locally lavanderas (washerwomen) because like the 

 native laundresses they had their principal activities along the streams, 

 on alighting after a short flight twitched their long tails rapidly a 

 dozen times and then stood motionless. On the rocky slopes above 

 were found occasional rock thrushes singing clearly from open ledges, 

 and approached only by arduous climbing. With them were alpine 

 accentors, cousins of the little hedge sparrows that abounded in the 

 matted brush above the valleys. One morning among the higher ridges 

 a curious birdcall came for a time without visible source, until finally 

 I located a black shadow moving along the mountain slope far below 

 and, tracing it to its source toward the sun, saw a crowlike bird sweep- 

 ing" in bounds and circles over the mountain ridges. The binoculars 

 revealed the curved red bill of a chough, and T watched its graceful 

 evolutions for some time with keen delight. 



The heat of the city of Leon in the lowlands was almost oppressive 

 after the sharper air of the mountains, and after a day during which 

 I visited the cathedral, with jackdaws and merlins flying about its 

 huge tower, I was pleased to continue by auto to Cistierna and from 

 there to the inland village of Riaho located in an open valley among 

 mountains at an elevation of 3.500 feet. The little fonda where I 

 obtained quarters was clean and comfortable, the people of the village 

 were friendly, and the weather was pleasant ; and I was told again that 

 spring had arrived in my company. Buds were already opening on 

 the trees near the village, and during the next two weeks leaves grew 

 apace until the lower slopes were entirely green and buds were burst- 

 ing on the trees at the upper edge of the forests. 



At Riaho the Esla and Yuso rivers joined in a large stream abound- 

 ing in trout. The open valleys were cultivated, while the slopes of the 



