Mr. A. Chapman — Winter Notes in Spain. 459 



Raptores whicli are so conspicuous in spring are entirely 

 absent in winter ; such as the Booted Eagle, Egyptian Vul- 

 ture, Black Kite, and Montagues Harrier, none of which I 

 saw, and but very few of the Lesser Kestrel, which in spring 

 so abounds about the ruins of the old Moorish towers and in 

 the streets of Jerez and Seville. A few days after my visit 

 to Felipe, he rode in with a cargo which sorely puzzled the 

 officials of the "consumos^' (octroi), for under either arm 

 he bore an Eagle, and in a sack on his back were two im- 

 mense wild cats ! The Eagles were A. chrysaetus and an 

 immature tawny-breasted A. bonelli. 



Towards the end of January I paid a visit to the sierras, 

 a forty-mile ride eastward of Jerez. I had hopes of finding 

 an eyry of the Bearded Vulture, though these were not des- 

 tined to be fulfilled. Nothing but the usual Spanish birds, 

 already named, were observed in our long ride, and on the 

 evening of the 22nd I put up at the " cortijo " of a hospitable 

 hill-farmer. Among the miscellaneous crowd gathered round 

 the blazing logs was a birdcatcher who had been plying his 

 vocation in the adjacent woods of the sierra ; he brought me a 

 Great Spotted Woodpecker, and among two dozen " zorzales " 

 (Thrushes) whicli I bought for dinner for my men and myself, I 

 was surprised to find six or eight Redwings. The birdcatcher 

 was quite aware of the migratory habits of the Song Thrush 

 in Spain, saying they were ''^pajaros de entrada,^' which dis- 

 appeared when the Swallows came; but he saw no difference 

 between them and the Redwings. The Blackbird, on the 

 other hand, is resident and breeds in Andalucia. Both 

 species, with Missel Thrushes and several common Finches 

 and Tits, were plentiful in these woods, and the Redwing 

 fairly numerous. I also observed here the Tree-creeper and 

 several Cushats and Jays, the latter a species which, strange 

 to say, I had not previously met with in Spain. The Choughs, 

 on the other hand, were not present in their usual spring 

 haunts at this season. About the small clearings or patches 

 of corn-land in the sierras the Corn Buntings had already 

 commenced to sing, though on the plains they were still silent. 

 We spent some days searching the stony heights of the 



