dresser: three weeks on the GUADALCJUIVIR. 19 



We had arranged, before leaving Seville, for three horses to be sent 

 here to meet us, and soon after noon we saw them in the far distance 

 coming toward us. After letting the horses have a rest, and after 

 taking a slight lunch ourselves, we started on horseback with our 

 guide, and visited several marshy places, having frequently to wade 

 long distances through the water. We saw a good many Stilts 

 {Biniantopiis catididus) and Pratincoles {Glareola pralincola), but 

 found eggs of neither. We observed numbers of Short-toed Larks, 

 Calandra Larks, Grey-headed Wagtails \MotaciUa flavn), and a few 

 Stone Curlew {(Edicnemus scalopax), one of which the Colonel shot, 

 but we could not find their nests. Towards evening we returned 

 to the steamer, got our supper, blew our eggs, and turned in. The 

 next morning (6th May) we did not turn out till nearly seven, and 

 did not go ashore till eight o'clock, vv hen we found the horses 

 waiting for us. We had two men with the horses, so we arranged 

 for the old man to go with us, and the younger man and our guide 

 to go in another direction, to see if they could find any eggs, whilst 

 we went to the breeding-haunts of the Stilt. Our horses were not 

 provided with regular saddles, but merely with pack-saddles and 

 huge grass-panniers, such as are used in the country, and we either 

 straddled or sat sideways on the top. Our great drawback was that 

 as these saddles were not provided with stirrups, we could not 

 mount without getting a 'leg up'; but the old man had his own 

 trained horse, which, when he wanted to mount, put its head down, 

 and when he bent over the neck the horse threw its neck back, and 

 thus rolled him on to the saddle. I tried this dodge, but my horse 

 was evidently not up to it, and I had to give it up as a bad job. 

 Before we left England we had two baskets made, which were so 

 arranged that they could be used as knapsacks, or else fastened like 

 panniers on a horse, and these proved most useful, for we put them 

 in the grass -panniers and filled them with cotton wool, amongst 

 which we packed the eggs as we took them. Besides these, we 

 carried food for the day, and a large earthenware bottle of fresh 

 water to drink. After riding across the grass prairie for about a 

 couple of hours, and crossing several shallow lakes or overflows, we 

 came to a large sheet of shallow water, through which we waded for 

 about half a mile, until we reached a huge patch of reeds, in which 

 our man told us we should find the Stilt breeding. We were soon 

 met by about a dozen Whiskered Terns {Hydrodielidon hydrida), who 

 flew over our heads, clamouring loudly, evidently strongly resenting 

 our intrusion on their domain. We soon found several nests of 

 these Terns, but all were empty. Some distance further on we were 

 met by a number of Stilts [Himatitopus caiididus), who flew round us, 



Jan. 1890. 



