208 MEDITERRANEAN NOTES 



as naturalist to the expedition. I put him the Prince 

 and his brother-in-law into our 'bus, and we struggled 

 on to Salar, where the whole party embarked in five flat- 

 bottomed boats, and went off to a spot called la Franca, 

 where there are dense, strong reed beds. 



" We saw but few birds. We talked ornithology 

 and shooting French with the Prince, and English with 

 Brehm. These two went off in a little punt in amongst 

 the reeds, where we could not follow, so we waited their 

 return outside the reed beds. T. knocked down a 

 purple heron, but it could not be retrieved. In the 

 meantime two Guardias Civiles came off and said that 

 their colonel wanted to present himself and pay his 

 respects. The Prince and Brehm came back having 

 shot nothing, and we all landed on the Dehesa. The 

 party marched in line back towards Salar. I tramped 

 along the path by the water-side with the G. C. colonel, 

 a very civil, fine-looking fellow, with the boats following, 

 till we reached a sort of muddy canal, which is only 

 passable at each end, and cuts right across the Dehesa. 

 A good many shots were fired by the party. 



"At this spot they came to the boats and re- 

 embarked rather disgusted, and we went spinning away 

 under sail past Salar, to a spot on the canal whither we 

 had sent on the carriages ; got into them again and went 

 to a place on the river, whence there is a short cut by 

 foot to the Grao. On our way we found a clap-net set, 

 and several wretched swallows pegged down as decoys. 



