BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME. 275 



pended, and there is no movement of passage-birds. 

 There is no longer the accustomed number of large hawks 

 hunting the campiua, and even those l)irds which remain 

 seem to keep out of sight, sheltering from the blazing 

 heat. 



Perhaps the most interesting birds at this season are the 

 newlj'-tledged young of the Eaptores. The j'oung Imperial 

 Eagles are of a beautiful tawny colour, and during the 

 mid-day heat frequent the trees where they were hatched. 

 "We also obtained young Kites in the same way— very 

 handsome birds, much ruddier than the old ones in April. 

 The young of M. migrans, on the other hand, are less 

 pleasing than their parents, being, in fact, a pale, rather 

 "washed-out" reproduction of them. Towards the end of 

 the month (June) the young Montagu's Harriers are on 

 the wing ; they have dark brown backs, each feather 

 edged with chestnut, a white nape, and orange-tawny 

 breast. Many of the young of the Marsh-Harrier are 

 uniformly very dark, bronze-black, with rich orange 

 crowns — strikingly handsome birds. Some have also 

 patches of the latter colour on the scapulars, others on the 

 breast — they vary greatl}-, no two are alike. This species 

 is not easy to understand ; one imagines that these very 

 dark specimens are all young birds ; that the old females 

 are lighter brown with yellow heads, and that the very old 

 males acquire half-blue wings and tail — I shot one of these 

 latter with the whole head pure white, each feather 

 streaked centrally with black. {See photo at p. 24'2.) But 

 how is one to account for an individual — otherwise uni- 

 formly black — having a perfectly developed Ijlue tail and 

 secondaries "? 



During June we were surprised to find the Green Sand- 

 piper tolerably numerous in the Coto Doiiana. It was a 

 veiy solitary species, a single bird frequenting almost each 

 small pool or water-hole far out among the scrub. We at 

 first imagined the females must be sitting, but all attempts 

 to find the nests were of course futile. The "Wood- Sand- 

 piper was observed, on passage, in May. 



As the long summer day draws to its close, the infinite 



T 2 



