BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME. 247 



rufus) scold in every bush, and various Finches and 

 Woodpeckers, Tits and Creepers, enliven the woodlands, 

 and sprightly Eufous "Warblers the drier plain. Among 

 the cane-brakes and carices that fringe the marshy 

 hollows skulk several other warblers— the Great Sedge 

 and Black-headed Warblers (S. arundinacea and melano- 

 cephala), Orphean, Cetti's, and the little Fantail, besides 

 our familiar Willow-Wrens, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Bed- 

 starts and Bobins — the latter resident, and very bright 

 in colour. The Black Bedstart has already disappeared 

 (April), but from day to day one sees our British migrants 

 arriving, resting, or passing forward on their northern 

 journey. Swallows especially are conspicuous : to-day the 

 air is alive with them, sweeping along the open glades : 

 to-night they roost in chattering hosts in the trees around 

 our camp — to-morrow they are gone, not a swallow 

 remains : and this occurs a dozen times during April and 

 May. 



On April 13th and two following days there occurred a 

 conspicuous " through transit " of Pied Flycatchers, and two 

 days later (in another year) the brushwood was alive with 

 Bedstarts, all on passage. On the 25th we were visited for 

 a couple of hours by hundreds of Alpine Swifts : and the 

 same evening the large Bed-necked Nightjars (C. ruficollis) 

 arrived, to add their churring note to the crepuscular 

 chorus of frogs and night-birds for the rest of the spring 

 and summer. One evening in May, while watching a pair 

 of Golden Orioles to their nest, I witnessed a rather curious 

 eviction. A Spanish Green Woodpecker (Gecinus sharpii), 

 her gullet crammed with ants, flew to a hole in a wild- 

 olive, but was met at the entrance by a furious Little Owl 

 (Athene noctua), which soon drove the clumsier bird 

 (which had no idea of self-defence) screaming to the 

 shelter of some brushwood. Soon after, her mate returned, 

 but met with a similar . reception, the savage little owl 

 perching meanwhile on an adjacent branch, where he sat 

 bolt upright, all fluffed out, and snapping with rage. On 

 examining the place, I found the woodpeckers had a 

 numerous family, nearly ready to fly : while the owl had 



