390 



Unexplored Spain 



under autumnal conditions before quitting Australia in April — 

 that is, the Australian autumn — and while yet some 10,000 miles 

 distant from the points at which that breeding-dress is designed 

 to be worn. 



To the four named might properly be added other two species 

 — the sanderling and the little stint. Our only reason for con- 

 fining our remarks to the original quartette is that, in Spain, the 

 transit of the other two is less pronounced and noticeable. 



Last spring (1910), dry as the marismas were, we had these 

 globe-spanners in thousands. They were extremely wild, and 



GREY PLOVERS 

 111 suniiiier plumage, oil route for Siberia — Marisma, May 12. 



it was only by elaborate "drives" that we secured a few speci- 

 mens.^ We also observed in mid-May hundreds of feZacA'-tailed 

 godwits, a species which usually disappears from southern Spain 

 at end of March and which we have found nesting in Jutland 

 before the above date, viz. the first week in May. 



Whimbrels had been extremely abundant early in May, 

 together with a few greenshanks, ring-dotterel, and green sand- 

 piper. On May 13 we observed several of the Mediterranean 

 black-headed gull (Larus melanocephalus) on Santolalla. 



^ In none were the generative organs more than slightly developed, and in most the 

 plumage was full of new blood-feathers, showing that the summer change was not yet 

 complete. The date, May 10-15. Another drawing is given at p. 42. 



