342 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



and Serins wherever there are trees, a few Bee-eaters 

 skimming over the cornfields, one or two Storks 

 busily investigating any swampy spots, Swifts, Swal- 

 lows, and Martins taking their pleasure and food all 

 around, and very probably a Russet Chat flitting 

 about a fallow from clod to clod and very conspicuous 

 from the brilliant contrasts of his dress of white, 

 sandy, and black. It is not improbable that we may 

 see a Griffon Vulture or two sailing, on almost 

 motionless wings, high in the air, and we have 

 almost always noticed one or two of the scavenger 

 Egyptian Vultures not far from Algaba, a village 

 always pre-eminently in need of their services. 

 Arrived at our destination, we find three men and two 

 beasts, and here I must pause to do justice to the 

 chief actor in the subsequent proceedings : imagine 

 in your mind's eye a little man, in features very 

 closely resembling Doctor Stanley, the late eminent 

 Dean of Westminster, clad in a scanty and very 

 flimsy jacket and blue cotton trousers, with the 

 invariable red "faja " or sash about his loins, and 

 the conventional Spanish black plush " calanies " or 

 pork-pie hat, in the rim of which he carries his 

 tobacco, cigarette-paper, and tinder ; with not an 

 ounce of flesh upon the wonderful muscles and 

 sinews which underlie his sun-tanned skin ; add to 

 these details a pair of small and piercing dark eyes, 

 with that peculiar puckering of the skin around them 

 that comes from habitual scanning of the distant 

 horizon under a bright sun, and is so remarkable 

 amongst nomad Arabs and sea-farers, and you have 

 before you the famous " Perico," or, to give him his 

 proper designation, Senor Don Pedro Molina, the 

 best driver of Bustards and one of the most typical 

 Andalucian peasants of my acquaintance, warranted 



