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



and, among others, two heads of thirteen and eleven points 

 respectively, form part of my collection. 



Leaving the pine-region for the more open scrubby plains 

 towards the west, where the cistus and tree-heath, broom 

 and giant heather, with lentiscus and many another evergreen, 

 grow in the wildest luxuriance, we had a different set of 

 birds. Here, though we got a few deer and B. shot an enor- 

 mous old boar, the chief game were Red-legged Partridges, 

 Snipe, and Quail ; the latter were not, of course, numerous 

 at this season, and only a single specimen of the Andalucian 

 Quail {Turnix sylvatica) was obtained. Quite the most 

 numerous inhabitant of the scrub was the Magpie, which sat 

 about in hundreds ; clouds of Common Starlings gyrated 

 over the plains, and every grove of cork-trees was occupied 

 by the Spanish Green Woodpeckers {Gecinus sharpei), the 

 crops of which contained ants and sand. I observed one 

 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker [Dendrocopus minor\ and the 

 Southern Grey Shrikes (Lanius meridionalis) everywhere 

 mumbled their harsh scolding notes from a dead branch or 

 tall shoot of cistus. Little Owls [Athene nodua) frequently 

 fluttered up from the scrub, and Short-eared Owls [Asio 

 accipitrinus) were so abundant that we often had five or six 

 on wing at once before our line. 



Fantail Warblers {Cisticola schoeiiicola) frequented the 

 " juncales " or rushy margins of the lagoons, where in spring 

 they breed. I also recognized in these spots a few Cetti's 

 Warblers {Cetiia sericea), and saw others which I failed to 

 identify, besides an occasional flock of Crag Martins [Cotile 

 7'upestris) and a stray Swallow. The lagoons at Zopiton 

 and elsewhere swarmed with Coots ; there were also a few 

 Grebes [Podiceps nigricolUs) and Dabchicks. Packs of 

 Stone Curlew hovered well out of shot; while of small birds 

 the Black Redstart, Wagtails (Grey, Yellow, and White), and 

 hosts of Larks were the most noticeable. One day a large 

 Falcon made several stoops at the Partridge which were 

 rising before us, and at last, having turned a hare, drove her 

 right back upon our line, when pursuer and pursued fell to a 

 right and left. This proved to be an example, in the first 



