in two Andaluciun Sierras. 457 



l)ut on a smaller scale and at greater intervals, arc reproduced 

 in the " lowlands/' 



From San Cristobal in the Ronda direction, i.e. to tlie 

 eastward, it is much the same sort of country — " foothills " ; 

 but, as might be expected from its approach towards the 

 sierras of the Province of Malaga, the ground-level is 

 higiier, being about 2500 ft. above sea-level. 



Sierra Nevada. 



Though we may be able to take a fairly comprehensive 

 survey of the bird-life on a single mountain like San Cristobal, 

 the undertaking becomes obviously far more difficult over 

 a vast mountain-mass such as tiie Sierra Nevada, of tenfold 

 greater area and doulde the elevation, especially as our 

 experience embraced but a comparatively small corner at 

 the Avest end of the range. 



The following paragraphs summarize our impressions of 

 its physical features compared with those of San Cristobal ; 

 but the reader will please to note that these apply only to the 

 particular part of the Sierra Nevada specified : — 



(1) The precipitous and rugged parts are proportionately 



fewer "per area," but may often, as in the case of 

 the terrific precipices that introduce the Monachil 

 into the Vega of Granada, be on a very much larger 

 scale. 



(2) The geological formation differs, in that most of the 



first two thousand feet immediately above the Vega, 

 consists of what seemed to us to be shale and clay or 

 loess, wretchedly poor and uninteresting in both plant 

 and animal life. 



(3) The succeeding zone, 4500-6500 ft., is much more like 



San Cristobal, rocks and boulders in fantastic pro- 

 fusion, fairly well clothed with scrub and bushes, and 

 in some parts with pines {Finns pinaster) and a few 

 ilex, trees. 



(4) Above this zone, stretching upwards apparently to the 



Picacho de Veleta itself, lie miles and miles of 

 moorland slopes, broken only at long intervals by 



