42 WILD SPAIN. 



Bustard-shooting single-handed. 



At one period of the year (about May), just before the 

 corn comes into ear, and when the male bustards are 

 banded together, they are much more accessible, the corn 

 being high all around them, and the guns more easily con- 

 cealed. But the objections from a farmer's point of view 

 are obvious, and we have rarely followed them under these 

 conditions, though it is a favourite period with Spanish 

 sportsmen. 



We have frequently l)een asked by the country people to 

 try our hands at their ambuscades by the wells (above de- 

 scribed), and often caused surprise by declining to kill 

 bustards in this way. It was, in fact, because we did not 

 enjoy any of the means in vogue with the natives, that we 

 resolved to try what could be done single-handed ; and by 

 sticking to it and hard work, have since accounted for 

 many a fine harhon, and enjoyed many an hour's exciting 

 sport with others not brought to bag, and which probably 

 still roam over the Andalucian rcfias to give fine sport 

 another day. 



On foot nothing could be done single-handed, but by 

 the aid and co-operation of a steady old pony, success was 

 found to l)e possible. As soon as the country is cleared of 

 corn (about .July or August), bustard pass the mid-day 

 hours sheltering from the sun in any patch of high thistles 

 or palmetto that may grow on the bare lands or stubbles. 

 We have also found them, during mid-summer, under olive- 

 trees, but never in any cover or spot where they could not 

 command all the space for many gunshots around. Having 

 been disturbed in their siesta — generally about a couple 

 of hundred yards before the horseman reaches them^ — the 

 birds stand up, shake the dust from their feathers, and are 

 all attention to see that the intruder has no evil designs 

 upon them. Piide directly towards them and they are oft" 

 at once ; but if approach be made cautiously and circuit- 

 ously, the bustards, though suspicious and uneasy, do not 

 rise but walk slowly away, for they are reluctant to take 



