La Mancha 187 



to pack liis 12-bore and seek the nearest Cook's office, it should 

 at once be stated that the rights-of-chase (as are all worth having, 

 alike in Spain, Scotland, or England) are in private hands — those 

 of the Sociedad de las Lagunas de Daimiel, a society which 

 at present numbers five members, all of ducal rank, and to one 

 of whom we are indebted for excellent descriptive notes. The 

 lakes are guarded by keepers who have held their posts for 

 generations — the family of the Escuderos. 



To claim for these far-inland lagoons a premier place among 

 the great wdldfowl resorts of Europe may seem extravagant — 

 albeit confirmed by facts and figures that follow. But the lakes, 

 be it remembered, are surrounded by that cultivation afore 

 described — 100-mile stubbles and so on. Another fact that 

 well-nigh struck dumb the authors (long accustomed to study 

 and preach the incredible mobility of bird-life) was that ducks 

 shot at dawn at Daimiel are found to be cropful of rice. Now 

 the nearest rice-grounds are at Valencia, distant 180 miles; 

 hence these ducks, not as a migratory effort, but merely as 

 incidental to each night's food-supply, have sped at least 360 

 miles between dusk and dawn. 



As autuniii approaches (we quote from notes kindly given us by the 

 Duke of Arion), so soon as the keepers note the arrival of incoming 

 migrants, their first business consists in observing the points which these 

 select for their assemblage. Then with infinite patience, tact, and skill, 

 the utmost advantage is seized of those earlier groups which have chosen 

 haunts nearest to points where guns may be placed most eflectively. 

 These favoured groups are left rigorously alone to act as decoys, while 

 by gentleness and least provocative methods, the keepers induce other 

 bands which have settled in less appropriate positions to unite their 

 forces with the elect. Thus within a few days vast multitudes, scattered 

 over wide areas, have been unconsciously concentrated within that 

 " sphere of influence " where four or five guns may act most efiicaciously. 



The supreme test of the keepers' efficiency is demonstrated when 

 this concentration is limited to some particular area designated for a 

 single day's shooting. 



The night preceding the day fixed for shooting, so soon as the 

 ducks have already quitted the lagoons and spread themselves afar over 

 the surrounding cornlands on their accustomed nocturnal excursions in 

 search of food, the posts of the various gunners are prepared. Tfiis 

 work involves cutting a cliainiel through some islanded patch of reeds 

 situate in the centre of open water. The channel is merely wide 

 enough to admit the entrance of the punt from which the gunner shoots, 



