A WINTER CAMPAIGN IN DOXANA. 353 



the cry of pdjaro, the Spanish equivalent to " mark over," 

 hecomes incessant. Pajarn, pajarn, the magic word comes 

 horne on the breeze from right and left, dwelt on l)y the 

 Andaluz till the final " 6 " dies away in prolonged cadence ; 

 and there, far away ahead, appear sundry dark specks in 

 the sky, rapidly growing in size as the redlegs wheel back 

 towards the spot where we crouch ])ehind a lentiscus. Now 

 they are overhead, for two brief seconds within reach of a 

 well-directed aim — then, in happy moments, a brace of 

 redlegs will bounce on the bents. 



Here every little thicket or clump of brushwood holds 

 some of the birds that have been driven forward, and even 

 on the barest ground some have found refuge behind a 

 tuft of grass or palmetto. Everywhere partridges start up 

 from the slightest covert, and one sees them running for- 

 ward ere they rise. But the hottest work occurs in the 

 belt of rush and reed — in the Jiincos that -border the 

 marisma. The finale is short, but it is sweet, and the 

 man who has stopped handsomely the rocketers that sped 

 to his lot has a reputation ready made. 



Such is, in outline, the system of an avcro, several of 

 which can be carried out on a winter's day. 



The partridges, unwilling to run save among the scrub, 

 usually rise at longish range on bare patches, and mount 

 rapidly in air, their flight rather resembling that of black- 

 game than of our grey partridge, and as they wheel back 

 fast and high, and at all angles, they test the best skill of 

 the gunner. Besides partridge and rabbits, an odd pair of 

 mallards will often rise from some rushy hollow, and from 

 the drier reeds a quail or two spring with their smart 

 game-like dash. The small Andalucian bush-quail {Tur- 

 nix sj/Ivatica) is occasionally shot, and crossing the more 

 open ground, among short scrub of tamarisk and juniper, 

 a few hares will be added to the bag. These are of the 

 small southern race, Lfpx.s mediterrancns, weighing only 

 five or six pounds, more brindled in colour and with 

 warmer shades on shoulders and flanks than ours. One 

 of them being hemmed in, was this afternoon swimming a 

 shallow pool when she attracted the attention of a Southern 



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