58 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



In the village, storks built huge nests in poplar trees, with one on 

 the tower of a little church, wagtails nested under loose tiles in the 

 roofs, and chaffinches and bright colored linnets chattered gaily. 

 Northward migration among the smaller birds was in full course so 

 that daily there were new arrivals. The song of the cuckoo — of which 

 the striking of the cuckoo clock is so exact an imitation — was heard 

 through the hills, with the rolling calls of the green woodpecker and 

 the harsh notes of jays that inhabited the scrub and seldom came into 

 the open. 



As days passed excursions were made steadily farther afield. Below 

 the pass known as the Collado de Tergiiena was a fine forest of beech 

 with the trees so heavily hung with moss that small birds were seen 

 among the branches with difficulty. In the Sierra de Ormas was a 

 great woodland of oak and chestnut as yet largely untouched by the 

 ax of the woodchopper. From the snow-covered slopes above there 

 was a wonderful view across wild, uninhabited mountain country in 

 which wolves, wild boars, and bears were reputed to range. From the 

 more distant Sierra del Ponton I had a view of the jagged Picos de 

 Europa. the highest points in the Cantabrian Range, inaccessible 

 however until later in the season because of the depth of snow in the 

 intervening mountain passes. Work here was finally concluded because 

 of the necessities of a schedule including other duties, though another 

 month might have been profitably spent in this area. 



From Riano I continued by motor to Cangas de Onis toward the 

 north, passing through a remarkably deep and narrow defile, cut in 

 places to a depth of more than 1,500 feet, at times with barely room for 

 a stream and the auto road at the bottom, with cliffs rising precipi- 

 tously on either hand. Field work was at an end ; the interesting col- 

 lections of specimens included a number of local races of birds new 

 to the collections of the National Museum, where the birds of Spain 

 had been previously almost unrepresented, and 1 came finally to 

 Santander and the French frontier with the hope that some future 

 journey might let me see more of the pleasant lands of Spain. 



