Mr. A. Chapman — Winter Notes in Spain. 451 



Grouse, I may mention that we carefully tested these birds 

 and found them excellent. Their flesh is dark, as tender 

 and well- flavoured as that of a Grouse, and was equally good 

 Avhen cold. The Spanish name " Ganga/' as I mentioned 

 in my former paper, signifies '' a bargain.^' As a coincidence, 

 it may perhaps be admissible to add that, on the very morning 

 after writing the above (May 30th), I received by post from 

 my puntsman on the Northumbrian coast, a package con- 

 taining a pair of Pallas's Sand Grouse {Syrrhaptes para- 

 doxus) , shot the day before from a flight of sixty *. 



On January 6th I again enjoyed a sight of my old friends 

 the Camels. Our party were assembled for the mid-day 

 " bocadillo " on the verge of the '^^marisma,^^ when these huge 

 creatures were descried in the distance. There was a herd 

 of nineteen, of all sizes, dreamily standing knee-deep in the 

 water, and each form clearly reflected below. With our 

 powerful field-glasses we could watch them putting their 

 heads down to the water, as though to graze on something 

 growing beneath its surface. Presently the herd moved 

 slowly off" to a small rush-grown island a mile or two from the 

 shore, and there we were obliged to leave them to their 

 ruminations. Hard by stood a very large flock of Flam- 

 ingoes, the rosy sheen of their long solid ranks gleaming 

 bright in the sunlight, and the intervening waters were 

 dotted over in all directions with numerous packs of Geese 

 and Ducks. Flamingoes appeared to remain on the Spanish 

 side of the Straits all through the winter. There were 

 plenty in the ^'^marisma''^ in November, and the "guardias^^ 

 said they still remained there in December. Immediately 

 after the heavy rains at the end of that month, while riding 

 through the " marismilla " forests, we observed, high over the 

 pines, a large flight passing northwards, which were, most 

 probably, in the act of crossing over from Africa. Their 

 winter movements are certainly regulated by the quantity of 

 water in the marshes. 



One curious circumstance we noticed in the "marisma ^' was 



* The Pallas's Sand Grouse is hardly so well flavoured, and their flesh, 

 ou the inner part of the breast, is white, like that of a Blackcock. 



