244 WILD SPAIN. 



warmly lined with sheep's wool, but still empty ; the other 

 with rabbits' fur, and contained five fresh eggs. 



The nests of Eavens, Kites, Buzzards, and Booted 

 Eagles are hardly distinguishable from below, except that 

 the eagle usually selects the main fork, the others building 

 out on the lateral branches. In the crevices and founda- 

 tions of all these large nests are often inserted the untidy, 

 grass-built edifices of the chestnut-headed Spanish Spar- 

 row (Passer salicicolus) , a forest-loving species, not found 

 in the haunts of men like his cousin of the streets, and 

 having a special predilection for sharing the homes of 

 the larger raptores, as our Sparrows at home build under 

 the nests in a rookery. 



The large birds of prey are always difficult to shoot, even 

 at their nests : and for capturing them the circular steel- 

 traps proved invaluable, saving much time and being 

 almost certain in their action. The miseries of a puesto, 

 or ambush, of an hour, or even two, lying on the burning 

 sand, in the stifling heat of the underwood, to await the 

 return of the- birds, one does not forget. For minutes that 

 pass like an eternity, the keen-eyed Kite will hover and 

 sail overhead : meanwhile a hissing column of mosquitoes 

 have focussed themselves over one's face : black ants, like 

 small dumb-bells, and creeping things innumerable, pene- 

 trate up one's sleeve and down one's neck : while at the 

 critical moment, when one must remain rigidly motionless, 

 a huge hairy spider of hideous mien gently lowers itself 

 on to one's nose. 



A Kite or Buzzard is too cautious to return directly to 

 the nest. Alighting first on a distant pine, it will approach 

 by three or four flights, and at last one knows that the 

 coveted prize sits well within shot, but either directly 

 behind, or in such a position that (from the ambush) the 

 gun cannot be brought to bear. The trap saved all this, 

 and rarely failed to secure such specimens as were required 

 — many caught by the beak and killed instantly.* 



* Some Kites (M. ictmus), which had been feeding on reptiles, had 

 a most offensive smell. The beak of the male, in this species, is 

 yellow to the tip ; in the female, horn-colour. The kites all lay two 



