450 Mr. A. Chapman — Winter Notes in Spain. 



were hunting over the drier plains of palmetto and cistus- 

 scrub, and not in the "marisraa/* Montagu's Harrier 

 (C. cineraceus) , so common in spring, was entirely absent. 



One winter's day, while vainly endeavouring to circum- 

 vent, by means of the " cabestro" ponies, the Geese, which, 

 by the way, will rarely allow approach in this manner, we fell 

 in with a pack of about forty Pintailed Sand Grouse (Pterocles 

 alchata). I vvas wrong in assuming, in my last paper (Ibis, 

 1884, p. 84), that these beautiful birds are only spring mi- 

 grants to Spain, for during last winter I observed them on 

 different occasions in the plains of the Guadalquivir and 

 the Guadalete. The birds in question were extremely shy 

 and wild, defying our most careful attenipts to approach, and 

 after crouching along, bent nearly double, behind the pony 

 for a couple of hours, my back and limbs paralyzed by the 

 excruciating pain of the prone position, the end of the oper- 

 ations seemed as far off as ever. The " Gangas," however, 

 had a strong fancy for that sandy spit (probably tlie only 

 available resort left uncovered by the water), and, though 

 not permitting approach, they never left us entirely, although 

 at times they were almost out of sight, far up in the blue 

 sky (we could hardly trace them, but for the harsh croak), 

 then down they would drop direct, shooting to the earth like 

 a shower of falling stars. At last a couple of raking shots 

 added seven males and three females to our bag, some of the 

 former already beginning to assume the black throat, but 

 otherwise they were all more or less in winter plumage, the 

 males having few or none of the pretty yellow spots on the 

 back which characterize their spring dress, and both sexes were 

 paler in tone than at the latter season. The carriage of these 

 birds on the ground is very sprightly ; they sit half upright, 

 rather like a Pigeon. On our final, successful approach, we 

 noticed many of them lying down on one side, nestling in 

 the warm sand. Their flight resembles that of the Golden 

 Plover, but the narrow black bordering on the under wing is 

 conspicuous ; at times, when high in air, they might almost 

 be taken for Teal. As divergent opinions h,ave been ex- 

 pressed with regard to the edible qualities of these Sand 



