160 



WILD SPAIN. 



Jebel Moosa's cloud- wreathed mass, and the loftier Spanish 

 sierras beyond Algesiraz. Tangier, Ceuta, and Melilla, on 

 the African shore, were faintly discernible ; and, on the 

 Spanish side, the unbroken snows of Nevada, fifty miles 

 away, glistened in the sunshine as though within rifle- 

 shot, with all the swelling vegas of Western Andalucia ; 

 while, right beneath us, lay the rich Ensenada de Mar- 

 ietta, the fertile fringe that borders the Mediterranean, 

 white with waving fields of sugar-cane, cotton, and carob, 

 prolific of date-palm and fig-tree, of corn, oil, and wine 

 — one of earth's most fruitful gardens. 



Prom our posts, at the head of a dizzy tumble of rocks 

 and screes, no fewer than five distinct mountain-ranges 

 were in sight, one rising beyond the other, the last and 

 loftiest clad in snow. To and fro in mid-air, far beneath, 

 sailed a superb pair of lammergeyers, their expanded 

 pinions gleaming almost white in the sunlight. These 

 giant birds had then eyry in a series of granite canchos 

 near the apex of the gorge ; but, at intervals, also entered 

 a cave in another crag which, we subsequently ascertained, 

 had formed their home in a previous year. 



Amongst the birds observed here, which may be men- 

 tioned as typical of the Mediterranean sierras, were golden, 

 hooted, and Bonelli's eagles, a single griffon-vulture, pere- 

 grine and goshawk, a pair of sparrow-hawks, busy carry- 

 ing sticks, ravens, jays, great spotted woodpecker, wrens, 

 crag-martins (Cotile rupestris) , the usual chats, and a few 

 cushats. Hawfinches and great tits were abundant among 

 the pines, and in the early dawn the melodious song of the 

 blue-thrush reminded one of Scandinavian springs and 

 the redwing's note. Another small bird causes recurrent 

 annoyance to the ibex-shooter. With a loud "rat-tat- 

 tat," closely resembling the patter of horny hoofs on rock, 

 its song commences ; then follows a curious hissing note, 

 not unlike the passing of a heavy body through brushwood 

 — for a moment one hopes that the coveted and long- 

 awaited game at length is coming. No ! confound that 

 bird ; it's only a redstart ! 



No ibex, however, appeared here to us expectant. The 



