SPAIN 317 



of stones downhill. A moment after a string of sixteen rams topped the sky-line one 

 after the other. I took a long shot, but missed, and, although I prolonged my stay on 

 the sierra, I never saw them again. 



In the autumn, the rams are with the ewes in flocks of from three to six. They 

 can be easily seen on open grass slopes or on the high peaks, and they are distributed 

 pretty well all over the sierra, where the feeding is good, and then is the time to stalk 

 them. The only inconvenience, and even danger at times, is the thick mist which 

 suddenly envelops the hills at this season of the year, and one runs the risk of having 

 to stop under a rock the whole day, and maybe the whole night also. 



The rutting season lasts from the middle of September to the middle of October, 

 but depends, I believe, a good deal upon the early rains and the time when the young 

 grass begins to flourish. Ewes therefore breed from the middle of March to April. 

 Ibex change their winter coat from April to May, as soon as they have young, and it 

 is before then that the rams leave the ewes and flock together. As I said before, they 

 generally form large flocks, but not always, as I have noticed them in smaller flocks 

 some years when food has been scarce. 



Of the ibex I have shot on the Sierra Blanca, the largest horns measured nearly 

 26 inches, and I do not think they run much over 30 inches. I have seen some in the 

 possession of the Duke of Fernan Nuiiez of quite 30 inches, shot at Sierra Frigiliana. 



As regards the ibex ground in the south of Spain, I would divide it into three 

 districts in the provinces of Malaga, Granada, and Almeria. First, Sierra Nevada 

 proper; second, the sierras forming the spurs of the Sierra Nevada and descending 

 to the shores of the Mediterranean between Velez-Malaga and Almeria; and third, 

 the mountain chain of Ronda, comprising all the sierras south of Malaga. 



There may be ibex on the Sierra Morena, but I have never heard of them. 



In the north there are ibex on the Pyrenees and the Sierra de Credos, of \yhich 

 latter and of Sierra Bermeja (Sierra de Ronda), as well as of ibex-shooting in general, 

 there is an excellent account given by Messrs. Chapman and Buck in ]Viid Spain. 



On the sierras of Ronda, ibex are to be found in Sierra Bermeja, Sierra Palmitera, 

 Sierra de Tolox, and Sierra de Ojen. The first three are covered with gorse, brushwood, 

 and either pine or cork trees ; the two last are, as already stated, pretty bare. 



Of the spurs of the Sierra Nevada, those known by me to hold ibex are : Sierra de 

 Competa, Sierra de Nerja, Sierra de Motril or Lujar, Sierra Tejada (part of which is 

 called Cazules, and is mostly private property and preserved). Sierra de Alhama, near 

 the latter, and Sierra de Frigiliana. Some of the foregoing sierras are of bare rock, 

 and some are covered with brushwood and gorse. 



