238 WILD SPAIN. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

 BIED-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPEING-TIME. 



I. — The Finales, or Pine Pvegion. 



There are features of Spanish bird-life that give the 

 subject a claim on the interest of British readers. Spain 

 is the home of many of those species which we call 

 " rare ;" some of the rarest are here quite common. 

 Especially is this the case with the large birds of prey, 

 with many aquatic species — such as the beautiful Southern 

 Herons — and various other bird-groups. 



Lying midway between Europe and Africa, Spain also 

 affords opportunity for the observation of migration — 

 nearly all our British summer-birds can be observed here 

 in transit, during the spring months : some, indeed, have 

 wintered in Spain, while the rest ajipear on passage from 

 Africa to the North. 



More than this, Spain possesses a magnificent avi-fauna 

 of her own, entirely unknown in England. Ornithologi- 

 cally, her southern provinces — at least in spring — might be 

 included in what Mr. Sclater designates the " Cis-atlantean 

 Subregion" {Ibis, 1891, p. 523), for their feathered 

 denizens at that season approximate rather to the North 

 African than to the European ornis. 



Nor need these spring-notes be interesting crclnsircli/ to 

 the naturalist : for observation in the wilder and more 

 remote regions involves a degree of hard work and of 

 field-craft that l)rings this bird-hunting fairly within the 

 category of sport. Cases in point, as those of the Elamingo 

 and Crane — elsewhere described, and of the eagles and 

 large raptores. Here, for example, is one day's record 

 from our diary : — " Camp at Navasso Eedondo, April 18t]i. 



