80 WILD SPAIN. 



hamlet clustered around the chapel of Nuestra Sefiora del 

 Eocio, an ancient shrine visited _yearly at the vernal 

 festival by faithful pilgrims. We were tired of the cold 

 and comfortless nights siih Jove in the marisma, where 

 upturned punts afforded scant shelter from the piercing 

 winds of the small hours, and where the chill exhalations 

 of night kept one awake listening to the chorus of frogs 

 and flamingoes and the melancholy boom of the bittern. 

 It was hardly a change for the better, for a more wretched 

 ague-stricken spot we have seldom beheld, and in the dirt}' 

 little posada man and beast were reckoned exactly equal in 

 relation to the " accommodation " they require. The bed 

 provided was a dirty mat of esparto grass, six feet b}' two, 

 unrolled and laid on the bare ground : but the mosquitoes 

 and other insect plagues made sleep impossible, and the 

 night was spent in skinning the day's captures. The four- 

 league tramp, however, through sandy, scrub-covered 

 plains, was a relief from the monotonous marisma, and 

 there were fresh birds for a change. The low, soft, double 

 note of the Hoopoe was ubiquitous ; Inilliant Bee-eaters, 

 Eollers, and Golden Orioles flashed like jewels in the sun- 

 shine, amidst the groves of wild olive and alcornoque : 

 Southern Grey Shrikes (LaHi^^s meridioiialis) mumbled their 

 harsh " wee hate " from some tree-top or tall shoot of cistus, 

 and Turtle-doves actually swarmed — all these birds (except 

 the shrikes) newly returned from African scenes. We also 

 observed a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, and a 

 single Azure-winged Magpie — the only occurrence of the 

 latter we had then met with in this district, though further 

 inland it is common near Coria del Eio, and towards 

 Cordova it becomes plentiful. Near Eocio, also, we ob- 

 tained the Eed-backed Shrike, a species not previously 

 recorded from Southern Spain. 



Another interesting bird seen and shot this day for the 

 j&rst time was the Great Spotted Cuckoo (Coccystes glan- 

 darins), and shortly afterwards, while sitting at lunch 

 during the mid-day heat, a female Hen-Harrier, which 

 slowly passed within very long shot, and caused me to 

 upset my last bottle of Bass. This was the latest date on 



