200 



WILD SPAIN. 



the Andalucian vega, eagles of twice their dimensions. 

 Here at last we were in presence of a pair of these stupen- 

 dous eagles, and my anxiety to take the offensive — how- 

 ever remote or impossible its chance of success — knew no 

 bounds. The pursuit of partridge, quail and hare — even 

 the approaching avero — faded into insignificance, and 

 these huge birds monopolized all attention. Presently 

 one — the larger — passed outside the line, and after almost 

 interminable aerial sweeps settled slowly down to the 

 summit of a small wild-olive. At once we called up one 

 of our wild-fowlers, who, with his trained cabresto pony, 

 was close at hand. The pony was divested of saddle and 

 bridle, and with only a halter and a cord to his near fore- 

 knee — preparations which told him distinctly enough the 

 nature of the business in hand — was ready for action. 

 Away we went, Vasquez crouching behind the shoulder, 

 myself behind the quarter, and holding with my 

 right hand by his tail. By this device we arrived, un- 

 noticed, to a range of forty yards — nearer we could not get 

 by reason of a marshy creek with steep, slimy banks. I 

 therefore at once despatched the charge of treble A, right 

 for the monster's head. The effect was unmistakable — he 

 rolled over to the shot, and fell to earth. • But those huge 

 wings never ceased to work, and a second dose of slugs (on 

 the ground) had no visible effect. From mere spasmodic 

 napping the great bird gradually recovered control, and a 

 few seconds later was distinctly flying — very low, but still 

 clearly on the wing and departing. For nearly a mile he 

 flapped along, never a yard above the scrub — then settled, 

 on the very edge of the water. We followed, and when I 

 next raised my eyes over the pony's quarter, there, within 

 six yards, stretched out flat on the bare mud, lay our 

 victim. His head lay prostrate, but his eye still brightly 

 watched us. Hard and impervious to shot as I well knew 

 these great raptores to be, I was hardly prepared to 

 see him rise again, and could not have believed what 

 followed. Not only did he rise on wing, but received two 

 more charges of treble A — mould-shot as big as peas — at 

 a range of under twenty yards, without wincing, and after 



