o2S Mr. H. F. Witherby on a Collectiiw [tbig, 



in the beech forests of Llebana. Dr. H. Gadow, in his book 

 'In Northern Spain,' also refers to the beech forests near 

 Potes and at Riafio, but we failed to find them, and I cannot 

 but think that the woods in these parts have been largely 

 altered by cutting. There may still be beech forests hidden 

 in some high valleys, but those woods which we explored 

 were mainly of oak, and the largest trees were not more than 

 about sixty or seventy years old. At the head of one valley 

 near Riano at about 4000 feet we saw a dozen or so very 

 large beech-trees, which were probably the remains of one 

 of the forests referred to. The Honey-Buzzard we did not 

 see, but they may have migrated and may still inhabit this 

 country in summer, but this could not be so with the Black 

 Woodpecker which Irby also found frequent in the higher 

 woods. We failed also to find these birds and no one we 

 asked seemed to know them. It is to be hoped that some 

 exist in woods we did not visit, as the bird is not found else- 

 where in the Peninsula beyond the Pyrenees. Another 

 interesting species not found elsewhere in the Peninsula is 

 the Capercaillie, which Irby mentions as having both seen 

 and heard. Wo did not have the same good fortune, and 

 evidently the bird is now very rare. Occasionally one is 

 shot in the spring and usually sent to Madrid, the shooters, 

 we were told, getting as much as 20 pesetas for a bird. 



The most interesting species which we found was the 

 Middle Spotted Woodpecker (not known in the Pyrenees, 

 but it may breed in Murcia, see Saunders, Ibis, 1871, p. &&\ 

 and the Marsh-Tit, whose distribution in Spain is extremely 

 local, and possibly it breeds only in the Pyrenees and Can- 

 tabrians. The Song-Thrush was another interesting species, 

 since on Irby^s evidence it breeds here. The only other 

 district in Spain where it may breed is in the Sierra de 

 Gredos, where it was heard singing in mid-May, as recorded 

 by Chapman and Buck in 'Wild Spain,' p. 147. 



Magpies, Jackdaws, and Starlings were absent from the 

 mountainous region. Another notable absentee was the 

 Crested Lark, so common in most parts of the Peninsula. 

 As I have before remarked, most of the summer birds had 



