October 2, 1899.1 



KNOWLEDGE. 



223 



But notwithstanding this wealth of colour, melody was 

 not wanting, for everywhere nightingales ' poured forth 

 their songs, although certainly not such full-toned ones 

 as we have in England. Now and again we heard a soft 

 " hoo-hoo," and an occasional hiss, and found the per- 

 former a hoopoe,^ strutting about, proudly raising its 

 beautiful crest. 



Amongst others of the many birds we saw were several 

 little owls. ■ One of these comical little birds allowed us 

 to ride right up to it, as it sat in a small tree. We stared 

 hard at it, and it stared hard at us, with its yellow eyes. 

 I almost touched the bird with the muzzle of my gun, 

 whereat it flew off to another tree, and proceeded to hurl 

 screeches and whoo-whoos at us. 



We did not always ride about this country ; indeed, we 

 found a long lonely walk often a great relief, and a great 

 advantage, for one cannot observe small birds from horse- 

 back, besides which, our horses, although hobbled at night, 

 would sometimes be driven by flies and mosquitoes to a 

 ■worse torment — a leech - infested marsh — and, as a con- 

 sequence, would appear in the morning only fit (as the 

 keepers remarked) for the bull ring. 



One of these lonely walks may be worth recording. I 

 had been forcing my way through the thickest cover for 

 some miles without seeing anything but a stag or two 

 (where wild boars are common, the crash of a stag, as it 

 jumps up within a yard of one, is rather disconcerting), 

 when I came upon a clump of cork trees. I crept 

 cautiously up to them. The first tree contained nothing, 

 but near the top of the second there sat a great griffon 

 vulture. I coveted his skin, although I had no wish to 

 skin him myself, as those who know what a griffon vulture 

 is will understand. However, I fired, and down fell ;i 

 very mountain of flesh and feathers. He was not dead, 

 so I put a charge of small shot into his head, at which he 

 sank down, and apparently died. But it is even easier to 

 kill a cat than a big vulture. I was sitting down with my 

 back to the vulture, eating lunch, and considering how 

 I could carry him home, when I heard a great rustling, 

 and there was my " dead " bird hobbling off, drooping 

 its broken wing. I leisurely picked up my things and 

 was proceeding to follow the vulture when it disappeared 

 into the thickest part of the scrub. It seems incredible 

 that one could lose a badly wounded bird as large as 

 a turkey in scrub however thick. Nevertheless I did 

 lose that bird, and was never able to find it again, 

 notwithstanding many hours of diligent searching. My 

 search, it is true, was somewhat distracted, firstly, by 

 a large eyed lizard,; about two feet long, which was 

 sunning itself on a little patch of bare sand, from which 

 it made off on my approach with an ungainly gallop, like 

 a young crocodile. Then I heard a harsh noise going on 

 behind me. I turned and saw a aerpent eagle — a small 

 light-coloured eagle — hovering over a tree from which 

 sounded a shrill " tic-tic-tic." Suddenly it closed its 

 wings and went down into the tree like a stone. Presently 

 it rose again and flew away, while the " tic-tic-tic" again 

 sounded from the tree. I crept forward and out flew 

 another eagle from a nest in the tree. The nest was 

 compactly made of stout twigs, and had for alining a number 

 of acorn cups and a long clean backbone of a snake, but 

 there were no eggs. On visiting this nest again some days 

 afterwards it was still empty, and the snake's skeleton had 

 disappeared. 



The griffon vulture was not the only bird that came to 

 life again, so full of surprises to us was this strange country. 



• Daulias luscinia. + XTpupa epops. J Athene iwctui, 

 § Zacerta occellala. ^ Circaeius gallicus. 



We were sitting one evening "picking oakum," not from 

 inclination but from necessity, having rim short of tow 

 wherewith to fill up our bird skins, when a kite, which had 

 been shot some hours before, and was just about to be 

 skinned, suddenly got up from the floor, and flew round 

 the room. Verily the ornithologist requires strong nerves. 

 We made several expeditions amongst the sandhills 

 bordering on the sea. The markings on the surface of 

 these sandhills are well worth studying. Everywhere the 

 tracks of cows, horses, deer, and rabbits are to be seen. 

 Look a little closer at the sand, and you wUl find that its 

 whole surface is covered with smaller tracks, crossing and 

 re-crossing each other. You can decipher those of birds 

 of different kinds, lizards, large and small, as well as 

 tortoises, but there still remain to be accounted for a vast 

 number of intricate dots, lines, marks, and trails, which 

 may have been made by mammals, birds, reptiles, or even 

 insects. Here and there amongst the sandhills is a pine 

 wood, which still holds out against the all-embracing 

 sand. In these stunted pine trees we found kites' nests, 

 as well as those of ravens," not more than twenty feet 

 from the ground. The raven is well known as a very 

 early breeder in England, often having eggs in the beginning 

 of March, but in Spain, although so many miles further 

 south, we found fresh eggs on April 26th, and slightly 

 incubated ones as late as May 11th. It is possible, of 

 course, that the bird has two broods in Spain, but I think 

 it unlikely, as we never saw any young ravens abDut. 



As we were riding one day across these sandhills, a 

 great black eagle — the Spanish Imperial eagle ^— rose in 

 front of us and flew away with a big straggling mass of 

 white in its claws. We followed it, anxious to discover 

 what was its prize ; and we were not the only being who 

 watched the great bird with interest. No sooner had it 

 settled again than four kites and two ravens flew down 

 and stood near at hand, whilst several more kites swooped 

 round and round in the air. The eagle, rending and 

 devouring his prey, took no notice, but the kites and ravens 

 watched his every movement, afraid to attack, but still 

 expecting a share of the booty. At last we fired a shot 

 from our hiding place. The eagle was so surprised that 

 he dropped his quarry and soared away on high in giant 

 circles, while the kites and ravens disappeared as if by 

 magic. The straggling white mass was a half-eaten 

 spoonbill, a bird nearly as big as the eagle itself. 



There are two kinds of magpies in Spain, our common 

 magpie* and the Spanish or azure-winged magpie. ; We 

 found many nests of the common magpie. They were all 

 built in low bushes, and none of them had the dome, 

 which is the chief characteristic of the magpie's nest in 

 England, as well as, I believe, in every other country it 

 inhabits. Why the magpie should build a roofless, un- 

 protected nest in a country swarming with egg-eating and 

 chick-stealing birds is a puzzle towards the solution of 

 which I have no suggestions to offer. 



The Spanish magpie occurs only in the Iberian Peninsula, 

 and is even there very locally distributed. We met with it 

 in considerable numbers amongst pines and wild olives 

 some long way from the riverside. Of a most delicate blue 

 in general colouring, with a velvety jet-black head and a 

 long elegant tail, it is one of the most beautiful birds. In 

 habits it reminds one much of the jay, especially in the 

 ' way in which the birds go about in small parties chattering 

 loudly, always keeping just ahead of one, and out of sight 

 in the tree tops. We had many opportunities, however, 

 of surprising the magpies when feeding on the ground. 



* Cori'us corax. 



+ Aguila adalherti. 

 § Ct/anopica cooki. 



X Pica rustica. 



