3IO SPORT IN EUROPE 



by the way, be out of the question for anyone visiting the country 



to get a shot at a stag, except by invitation. Fallow deer are 



also found in the royal preserves, and the Infanta gives shooting 



parties at Riofrio, at which the fallow are driven. Only riHes 



are used here, but shot-guns are allowed in the Pardo, a royal 



domain in the neighbourhood of Madrid that has been let to 



shooting clubs. This is but poor sport. Fallow deer are also 



preserved on a few private estates, and have even in one or two 



places run wild. Roedeer are found in the wooded hills all over 



the country, and are driven and killed with buck-shot. Unfortunately, 



much less attention is paid to the necessity of sparing the females 



than I have observed to be the case in some countries of Central 



Europe, in consequence of which the roe only just holds its own 



in many parts. 



The ibex, the finest beast of its kind in Spain, is stalked or 



driven in the summer months among the highest mountain peaks, 



and , only those who are ready to face the stiffest 



^. . climbs, with some little measure of dano-er, can hope 

 Chamois. ^ 



for the chance of an ibex head. Mr. Pablo Larios, 

 who has had much ibex-shooting, kindly sends me the following- 

 notes : — 



I shall never forget my first sight of ibex, that grandest of wild beasts in Spain, if 



not in Southern Europe. I was visiting the country in the summer of 1888, when my 



journey brought me to the pretty little town of Marbella, picturesquely 

 Ibex. 



situated on the shore of the Mediterranean, and surrounded by fertile fruit 



and vegetable gardens, behind which rises majestically to about 4,000 feet above the 



level of the sea the Sierra Blanca (White Mountains) of Ojen. I was anxious to get 



information about ibex-shooting in the Sierra Nevada, and on making inquiries from 



