378 



Unexplored Spain 



let us here admit that, being fowlers as well ;is naturalists, our 

 observance of the phenomenon has usually been carried out upon 

 a liicio whi(;h liappeus to terminate towards the N.E. in a long 

 narrow bight fringed by tall reeds and bulrush, where, con- 

 cealed in friendly covert, we can continue the observation while 

 glancing along the barrel of a punt-gun. That secondary fact 

 is merely incidental and, it so happens, facilitates the main ol)ject. 

 A mile to windward three such armies are mobilising separately 

 within the scope of our view ; and now the gentle force of that 

 sea-breeze begins to impel those unconscious hosts, too pre- 

 occupied with all-absorbing passion 

 to notice detail, directly towards the 

 point whereat we lie concealed. 



By this time the sun has three 

 or four hours of declension and the 

 thin dark line representing thousands 

 of suro^incr atoms has drifted down 

 to within 200 yards. We can study 

 at short range an amazing pheno- 

 menon. In weird exuberance they 

 fight and flirt, chase, cherish, and 

 flap till churned water flies in foam 

 and a discordant roar of sibilant 

 sound fills to the zenith the voids 

 of space. The volume of voices 

 defies description since these assem- 

 bling multitudes belong to no single species, but include a pro- 

 miscuous agglomeration of all that care to enlist, and each adds 

 its own distinctive element to the general uproar.^ Around the 

 floating host new-comers buzz like swarming bees, each seeking 

 some spot to wedge itself into the crowd. 



To-night the main corro that we had been awaiting drifted 

 past our front a trifle beyond efl"ective range. The two that 

 followed both " took the ground " and remained stationary, away 

 to the right. The chance of making a great shot had failed ; 

 but we were content to watch the phenomenon to its finish. 



Now the sun dips. The western sky is filled with golden 

 glory ; in twenty short minutes darkness will have enveloped 



^ One feels convinced, while lying listening, that these exuberant fowl invent and formulate 

 a series of new notes and cries special to the occasion and outside their normal vocabulary. 

 Hence, possibly, originated the use of the term ''Corro." 



REED-BUNTING 

 A winter visitor to the marisnias. 



