142 Unexplored Spain 



present stock. In a letter (the composition of which would cost 

 some anxiety) the Guarda of the Madrigal de la Vera — one portion 

 onlv of the " sanctuary " — reports : " It is difficult to count the 

 ibex. Sometimes we see more, sometimes less. Yesterday on 

 the Cabeza Nevada we counted 39 rams and 22 females together. 

 On the other side we counted 29 in one troop, 19 in another, 12 

 in another, besides smaller lots. We prol)ably saw 160 or 170, 

 and we could not see all. Some of the old rams are very l)ig, and 

 it would be advisable that some be shot." Another report (at 

 same date) from the " Hoyos del Espino," estimates the ibex 

 there to exceed 200 head. The two reports go to show that the 

 continuity of the race is fairly secured. 



[A similar cession of sole hunting-rights to the King was 

 simultaneously made by the owners of the " Central Group " of 

 the Picos de Europa in Asturias. There are no ibex in that 

 Cantabrian range ; the graceful act was there inspired by a desire 

 to preserve the chamois, animals with which we deal in another 

 chapter.] 



The Spanish ibex is found at six separate points in the 

 Peninsula, each colony divided from its fellows as eti'ectually 

 as thouo-h broad oceans rolled between. The six localities are : — 



(1) The Pyrenees — which we have not visited. 



(2) Sierra de Gredos, as above defined, and as described in 

 greater detail hereafter. 



(3) Sierra Morena, a single isolated colony near Fuen-Caliente, 

 now preserved (see next chapter). 



(4) Sierra Nevd,da and the Alpuxarras (cf. infra). 



(5) The mountains along the Mediterranean, which are 

 properly western outliers of Nevada, but which are usually 

 o-rouped as the " Serrania de Ronda," some lying within sight of 

 Gibraltar. Several of the most important ranges are now pre- 

 served by their owners (cf. infra). 



(6) Valencia, Sierra Martes. This forms a new habitat 

 hitherto unrecorded, and of which we only became aware through 

 the kindness of Mr. P. Burgoyne of Valencia, who has favoured us 

 with the annexed photo of an ibex head killed (along with a 

 smaller example) at Cuevas Altas in the mountain-region known 

 as Pefias Pardas in that province, February 22, 1909. The 

 dimensions read as follows : — 



