26 



Unexplored Spain 



A Note on the Spanish Fauna 



After all, it is less with the human element that this book is 

 concerned than with the wild Fauna of Spain ; a brief intro- 

 ductory notice thereof cannot, therefore, be omitted. 



As head of the list must stand the Spanish Ibex (Capra 

 hispchiica), a game-animal of quite first rank, peculiar to the 

 Iberian Peninsula, and whose nearest relative — the Bharal [Capra 

 cylindricornis) — lives 2500 miles away in the far Caucasus. In 

 Spain the ibex inhabits six great mountain-ranges, each covering 





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BONELLI'S EAGLE {Aquila bonellii) 

 A pair disturbed at their eyrie. 



a vast area but all widely separated. After a crisis that five years 

 ago threatened extermination, this grand species is now happily 

 increasing under a measure of protection and the segis of King 

 Alfonso. Next — a notable neighbour of the ibex (and practically 

 extinct in central Europe) — we place the lone and lordly Lammer- 

 geyer. A memorable spectacle it is to watch the huge Gyjjaetus 

 sweeping through space o'er glens and corries of the sierra in 

 striking similitude to some w^eird fiying dragon of Miocene age- — 

 a vision of blood-red irides set on a cruel head with bristly black 

 beard, of hoary grey plumage and golden breast. Watch him for 

 half an hour — for half a day — yet never will you discern a sign 



