46 Unexplored Spain 



of stalking : — " The first stag I ever saw shot with his head 

 down ! " Other countries, other standards ; but there is a ring 

 of sterlino- chivalry in it too. The idea conveyed is that the 

 noble stag should meet his death, only when duly forewarned of 

 dani^er and bounding in wild career o'er bush and brake. 



Without unduly trespassing on our Spanish friends' suscepti- 

 bilities, we have nevertheless enjoyed such mornings as this. To 

 beo-in with, that hour of breaking day is ever delicious to spend 

 afield. Therein one observes to best advantage the wild beasts, 

 undisturbed and following their secret, solitary lives — one learns 

 more in that hour than in all the other twenty-three. One seems 

 almost to associate with deer, so near can the troops of hinds and 

 small staggies be approached ; and, moreover, there may be 

 afforded the advantage of selecting some splendid head afar, and 

 thus commencing a stalk which, believe me, does not always 

 prove easy. Yonder comes a fox, trotting straight in from his 

 nio^ht's huntino; in the distant marisma. Let him come on within 

 fifty yards, and then give him a bit of a fright — it is a wild goose 

 he drops as he turns to fly ! A single glint of something ruddy 

 catches the eye ; this the glass shows to be a sunray playing on 

 the pelt of a prowling lynx, hateful of daylight and hurrying 

 iuno-le wards. Rarely are these nocturnals seen thus, after sun- 

 up, and not for many seconds will the spectacle last ; for no 

 animal is more intensely habituated to concealment, or hates so 

 much to move even a few yards in the open. 



Following are two or three incidents selected as illustrative 

 of this matutinal work : — 



... A really fine stag — already against the glory of the 

 eastern light, I have counted thirteen points and there may be 

 more. Half an hour later we have gained a position — not with- 

 out infinite manoeuvres, including a crawl absolutely flat across 

 forty yards of bog and black mire — a position that in five more 

 minutes should secure to us that trophy. The five hinds that, 

 before it was fully light, had been in the Royal company, have 

 already, long ago, passed away in the scrub on our right, and 

 o-ive us now no further concern. Never should hinds be thus 

 licrhtly regarded ! The slowly approaching stag stops to nibble 

 a oolden broom. He is already almost within shot — seconds 

 must decide his fate — when a triple bark, petulant and defiant, 

 breaks the silence behind. Those five hinds, sauntering round. 



