84 



WILD SPAIN. 



Here a mass of aboluga, or Spanish gorse, ablaze with 

 golden bloom ; an arbutus blanched with waxen blossoms, 

 or the glossy foliage of mimosa ; there the sombre tones of 

 the ilex are relieved by the pale emerald of a wild vine 

 entwined upon the trunk. Even the stretches of grey 

 gum-cistus have become almost gaudy with their pink, 

 white, and pale yellow flowers. The air breathes of vernal 

 .perfumes, and the infinite chorus of spring bird-notes — the 

 soft refrain of Goldfinch and Serin, Nightingale, Hypolais 

 polyglotta, Orphean and other warblers, the' dual note of 

 Hoopoe, and flute-like carol of Golden Orioles, mingled 

 with the harsher cries of Woodchat and Bee-eater, and on 

 all sides the ' voice of the Turtle was heard in the land.' 



The sun was high in the heavens ere we cleared the 

 fragrant finales ; yet in the last rushy glade we rode 

 suddenly into a herd of wild pig ; females with their half- 

 grown young — probably the exigencies of the season 

 explained their being astir at so unusual an hour. Shortly 

 afterwards the writer almost trod on two boars, deeply 

 slumbering in an isolated thicket — one an old tusker, 

 grizzly with age, and looking almost white as he trotted 

 away across the dunes. 



Presently, through a vista of the forest, we sighted 

 the marisma, its muddy expanse to-day blue as the 

 Mediterranean. An animated scene lay before us ; the 

 wastes were thronged with bird-life. The horizon glistened 

 with the sheen of Flamingoes in thousands, and the inter- 

 vening space lay streaked and dotted with flights and 

 flotillas of aquatic fowl. The nearer foreshores, fringed 

 with rush and sedge and dark stretches of tamarisk, were 

 peopled with Storks and Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills, Stilts, 

 Avocets, and other waders. While breakfasting under a 

 spreading pine, we observed commotion among our. 

 feathered neighbours — the whole multitude had risen on 

 wing as a single Booted Eagle swept over the scene. 



Bambling along the shore, we obtained many beautiful 

 specimens by stalking, including most of those above 

 named, as well as a pair of Marbled Ducks, a wild-cat, and 

 other " sundries." Presently we observed with the glass 



