The Goto Donana 



45 



nocturnal pasturages at daybreak. As the last watch of night 

 wears on towards the dawn, the deer, withdrawing from their 

 feeding-grounds on open strath or marsh, slowly direct a course 

 covertwards, lingering here and there to nibble a tempting genista, 

 or to snatch up a bunch of red bog-grass on their course. We 

 have reached a favourite glade, often used by deer. It is not yet 

 light— rather it might be described as nearly dark — when the 

 splashing of light hoofs through water puts us on the alert. A 

 few moments suffice to gain a Ijushy point beyond ; whence 

 presently six or eight nebulous forms emerge from deceitful 

 gloom. Of course there is not a horn among them, bar a little 

 yearling, for good stags never come thus in troops, and with all 

 due caution, so as to avoid alarming 

 these, we hurry away to try another 

 likely spot. Time is of the essence 

 of this business, for light is now 

 strengthening, and in another half- 

 hour the deer will all have o-ained 

 their coverts and the chance will be 

 past. Again groups of hinds and 

 small beasties meet our gaze ; but 

 some distance beyond are a couple of 

 stags. It is light enough now, by 

 aid of the glass, to count their points 

 — only eight apiece, no use. While 



yet we watch, a pack of graceful white egrets alight close around 

 the nearer deer — some dart actively between the grazing animals 

 picking flies and insects from their legs and stomachs ; two 

 actually perching, cavalier-like, on their withers to search for ticks 

 — magpies, on occasion, we have observed similarly employed. 

 The sun's rim now peers from out the watery wastes in front ; 

 nothing worth a bullet has appeared, and our morning's work 

 looks as good as lost when my companion, Pepe, detects two 

 really good stags which, though already within the shelter 

 of fringing pines, yet linger in a lovely glade, tempted for 

 fatal minutes by a clump of flowering rosemary. The wind 

 demands a considerable detour ; yet the pair still dally while 

 we gain the deadly range, and a second later the better of the 

 two drops amidst the ensnaring blue blossoms, Pepe's half- 

 soliloquising comment precisely interprets the Spanish estimate 



