QUAILS AND BUSTARDS. 28 



to stand still in some place which they frequent .on a windy 

 day, when they will often fly within a few yards. Peewits 

 are numerous, but not worth shooting, as is the case with 

 Curlews ; but the latter are, as elsewhere, much too wary 

 to allow themselves to be shot, and during the whole time 

 I was in Andalucia I never but once had the chance of 

 killing one. 



Woodcocks in some seasons are numerous ; but five or six 

 couple in a day is a very good bag, very different from Albanian 

 shooting. Red-legged Partridges (Caccabis rufd) are not worth 

 the trouble of going after, either for sport or for the table ; in some 

 places there are a good number, but not near Gibraltar ; they 

 are the chief object of sport with the Spaniards, who kill them 

 at all seasons, even shooting them from the nest. Quails are, 

 during the enfrada or autumnal migration, so extremely abundant 

 that, if there has been a westerly wind for a few days in 

 September, when they are on passage, there is really no limit to 

 the number that may be shot. About Tarifa at that season 

 every gun-possessing man and boy turns out with all the cur 

 dogs in the town, and, regardless of each other, they fire in 

 all directions, so that it is a service of danger to go out near 

 them. If the wind during their passage remains in the east, 

 the Quails pass on, and little or no sport is to be had with 

 them. A west wind appears to detain them and prevent their 

 passing the Straits, though it does not seem to retard their 

 migration by land. 



The remaining small game to be noticed in Andalucia are 

 Bustards, hares, and rabbits. The Great Bustard is only to 

 be got with any certainty by driving. The Little Bustard, 

 more wary still, is only to be shot in the' end of July and 

 in August during the extreme heat of the day, though rarely 

 they can be driven over a gun by getting under the bank 

 of a river or such like shelter, and sending a man round 

 to put them up ; but on rising they usually mount up very 



