448 Mr. A. Chapman — TVinter Notes in Spain. 



to the grassy shores and points of land at daybreak, flying 

 inshore in small successive parties from the open water. 

 There, if unmolested, they remain feeding, preening and 

 washing in the shallows, or resting on the banks, all day. 

 At the particular spots along the edge of the " marisma " to 

 which, at dawn, the Geese thus resort, a few flight-shots 

 may be obtained on a favourable morning ; but the difficulty 

 of shooting Wild Geese is proverbial, and these big Grey-lags 

 are the hardest and most invulnerable of fowl. The Spanish 

 wildfowlers use trained stalking-ponies, called "cabestros," for 

 Ducks and — to a less extent — Geese are accustomed to the 

 presence of the numerous half-wild ponies and cattle bred in 

 the Bsetican wilderness, and take little notice of their approach. 

 It is curious that they should not observe the extra pair of 

 legs ; but the most cautious birds appear entirely to overlook 

 such irregularities, and so long as the fowler allows no part 

 of his figure to appear above the outline of the pony^s back, 

 no attention is paid to what may be in full view hendath. 

 It was a singular experience to arrive thus, almost into 

 the midst of such wary and suspicious birds as Pintail, Mal- 

 lard, and Wigeon, many of which were frequently swimming 

 quietly, calling or preening themselves, within 15 or 20 yards 

 of our guns, while others passed and repassed close overhead. 



Wild Swans we never saw, but one of our " pateros '' (duck- 

 shooters) told me he had shot two or three during a severe 

 winter many years ago ; he regarded them as very rare, and, 

 indeed, did not know what they were until he took them to 

 San Lucar for sale. 



The comparative- scarcity of the wading birds dui'ing wet 

 seasons I have already noticed. During the many long days 

 we spent behind our stalking-ponies on the shores of the 

 " marisma," we hardly observed any variety of this class of birds . 

 On a few occasions, chattering flocks of Black-winged Stilts 

 {Himantopns candidus) were met with ; the legs of the young 

 were already pale pink, but the irides were still dark. On 

 January 30th a very large pack of Avocets [Recurvirostra 

 avocetta) were feeding on the oozy mud-flats outside the 

 Palacio de Doiiana, and the '^ pateros '^ assured me that they 



