The Marismas of Guadalquivir 99 



morning we had selected to commence our operations. Had the 

 weather held for a single week . . . but why dwell on it ? The 

 point must be clear enough. No more geese were got that year. 

 Let us conclude with a few ornitholooical observations made 

 during succeeding days. On November 30, after three days of 

 stormy weather, with tremendous bursts of rainfall, there com- 

 menced one of the most remarkable bird-migrations we have 

 witnessed. From early morn till night (and all the following- 

 day) cloud upon cloud of ducks kept streaming overhead from the 

 westward. Frequently a score of packs would be in view at once 

 — never were the heavens clear ; and all coming from precisely 

 the same direction and travelling in parallel lines to the east. 

 Their course seemed to indicate that these migrants (avoiding the 

 overland route across Spain which would involve passing over her 

 great cordilleras, say 10,000 feet) had travelled south by the 

 coast-line as far as the latitude of Cape St. Vincent. Thence 

 they " hauled their wind " and bore up on an easterly course 

 which brought them direct into the great marismas of the 

 Guadalquivir.^ 



Las Nuevas 



We had acquired this waste of marsh and mud-flat and were 

 keen to " go and possess it." Initial difficulties arose to con- 

 front us. Though the whole region now belonged to us (i.e. 

 the rights of chase, and it boasts but little other value) yet 

 our possession was to be met by some opposition. 



It was all very natural, delightfully human, and despite the 

 annoyance, captivated our sympathy. Local fowlers, accustomed 

 from immemorial times to earn a scant living by shooting for 

 market the wildfowl of the wilderness, resented this acquisition 

 of exclusive rights. Our scattered guards were overawed, our 

 reed-built huts were burned, and threats reached us — not to 

 mention a casual bullet or two ricochetting in wild bounds 

 across the watery waste. That one quality, however, above 

 mentioned — sympathy — is the passport to Spanish hearts, and 



^ At the date in question (end of November) it is, of course, possible that this immigration 

 was proceeding, not from the north, but from the south. That is, that these were fowl which, 

 on their first arrival in Spain in September and October, had found the marisma untenable 

 from lack of water, and had in consequence passed on into Africa, wlience tiicy were now 

 returning, on the changed weather. But be that as it may, the route above indicated is 

 that invariably followed by the north-bred wildfowl on their first arrival in Spain. 



