86 



WILD SPAIN. 



write elsewhere ; but no description or sketch of ours 

 can do adequate justice to this gem among birds. 



The name of sand-grouse is not appropriate, for they 

 are in no sense grouse, and are never found on sand — 

 always on mud, and when shot their feet and bills are 

 generally covered therewith. Tbere is another and larger 

 species, the Black-bellied Sand-Grouse (Pterocles arenarius), 

 which is not found here, but is very abundant in parts of 

 the upper marisma, towards Seville, and especially in the 

 so-called Isla Menor, where we have shot several when 

 bustard-driving, and found a nest with three long elliptic 

 eggs on May 28th, besides seeing several others found by 



STILTS— HOVERING OVERHEAD. 



our men. These birds — in Spanish Corteza — nest on the 

 bare pasturages of the upper marisma, and also on the 

 high central plateaux of Spain, in Castile, La Mancha, &c, 

 a very different region. The Pin-tailed species is known 

 as Ganga, signifying a bargain, in reference to its edible 

 qualities. 



After heavy rains in April, the mud and water in the 

 marisma were unpleasantly deep for either riding or walk- 

 ing — we had now abandoned the punts ; and on the low 

 islands many thousands of eggs had been destroyed by the 

 rising of the water. A great variety of birds were now 

 nesting, Stilts and Avocets being, perhaps, the most con- 



