THE LARGE GAME OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 175 



Nominally it is illegal to enter upon any private lands in 

 search of game without a written permission from the owner ; 

 but practically the sportsman goes wherever he pleases through- 

 out the length and breadth of this sparsely peopled country, 

 except only in the case of cotos or preserves. 



This is an important exception to the big game hunter, for 

 nearly all the regions frequented by red deer, at any rate, are 

 strictly preserved, and wholly forbidden ground to the casual 

 stranger. The snow-clad Alpine regions where the Spanish 

 ibex and chamois are to be found, and a few remote haunts of 

 roe deer and pig among the Sierras, are free to all comers, but 

 the difficulty and expense of arranging drives and of camping- 

 out in these distant regions are very great. 



The Government of Spain is unusually civil to aliens, making 

 no special stipulations with regard to their sporting rights. Like 

 everyone else in Spain, the foreigner who wants to shoot must 

 take out a licence to carry a gun (itso de escopeta] and to kill 

 game (aizar). The cost of this is 25 pesetas. In addition to 

 this, each municipality has power to levy a tax in the form of a 

 licence, giving the holder a right to shoot over all lands belong- 

 ing to the municipality the sporting rights of which have not 

 already been leased. An Englishman furnished with a letter of 

 introduction from his consul would experience no difficulty in 

 obtaining such a licence. 



The close-time for large game is, as regards certain northern 

 provinces (Galicia, the Asturias and Santander), from March i 

 to September i, and for the rest of Spain and her Mediter- 

 ranean islands from February 15 to August 15, but it is to be 

 observed that the law as to close time does not bind game- 

 preservers in their own preserves. 



This, in brief, is almost all that an Englishman need know 

 of the game laws of Spain, although perhaps these two quaint 

 clauses (Arts. 37 and 38 Consolidated and Amended Game 

 Law, January 10, 1879) might affect him : 



37. A sportsman who wounds a beast has a right to that beast 

 so long as he, either in person or by his dogs, is in pursuit of it. 



