17 

 THREE WEEKS ON THE GUADALQUIVIR. 



H. E. DRESSER, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Etc. 

 Author of ' The Birds of Europe' ; r resident of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union 

 {being the second portion of the Presidential Address to the Union). 



I HAD been suffering from gastritis all last winter, and was thinking 

 of taking a holiday, to try and get quite well again, when my friend. 

 Colonel Hanbury Barclay, asked me to join him in a trip he had 

 decided to take in the south of Spain, chiefly with a view to collect 

 eggs, and although I expected to have to rough it a little, I at once 

 decided to close with so good an offer. Colonel Barclay had already 

 arranged to have the use of a steam launch on which we could live, 

 so that we should be quite independent of inns, which, except in the 

 larger towns, are in Spain, places to be most carefully avoided. 



We started from London on the ist May, and after spending one 

 day in Paris, and one in Madrid, reached Seville early in the morning 

 of the 4th ; and after a most refreshing bath and lunch at the house 

 of a friend, we went to the river to see our steam launch, and take 

 in stores. Our luggage, which we had sent over from London by 

 steamer, was still at the Custom House, and it took us a couple of 

 hours to get it passed and put on board the launch, and it was late 

 in the evening before we had all our stores aboard and could make a 

 start. Our crew consisted of a skipper, who could also do a little 

 cooking, an engineer, a boy, and a man — who w^as to act as guide 

 when we went ashore, and to make himself generally useful when we 

 were in search of eggs. Our steam launch had a good-sized saloon, 

 aft, with seats along the side, which, at night, were made up into 

 beds for the Colonel and myself, the rest of the furniture being only 

 a table and some campstools. Aft of the saloon was a small space 

 where we had our bath, and which we used as a dressing-room, and 

 in the saloon we had a couple of lockers or cupboards for our stores. 

 Forward, there was a cabin below deck, for the men, and on the 

 deck was a cooking-stove, but as the whole vessel was covered 

 with a sheet-iron roof or awning, the men usually slept on the 

 benches on deck, well protected by the awning, and we utilised the 

 top of the saloon, which was well protected from the sun and rain, 

 as a store place for our luggage and stores. Our hunting-ground 

 was on both sides of the Guadalquivir river, from Seville to the sea, 

 but for obvious reasons I refrain from giving any particulars as to 

 exact localities, although, owing to the difficulty and consequent 

 expense in getting there, it would not repay anyone to visit these 

 parts merely to collect eggs and birds with a view to dispose 

 of them. 



Jan. 1890. B 



