250 



WILD SPAIN. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 



BIED-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPBING-TIME. 



II. — The Cistus-Plains and Pbairies. 



Leaving the pinal, or pine region, let us spend a fort- 

 night in the open hush-land beyond. Passing succes- 

 sively the famous manchas of the' Alameda Honda, the 

 Eincon de los Carrizos, and Majada Eeal — each coverts of 

 repute, though all unknown to geographers and marked 

 upon no map — we traverse next the forest-glades of the 

 Angosturas, and enter upon a different region, where fresh 

 landscapes and new beauties await appreciative eyes. 

 Here the swelling sand-dunes trend away southwards — 

 towards the sea. The dark bushy pine gives place to 

 open heath and brushwood, stretching away to the horizon, 

 here and there diversified with scattered clumps of cork- 

 oak, aspen, wild-olive, and poplar. 



The country around our quarters is a level plain of ever- 

 green scrub — lentiscus, broom, heaths of varied kinds, and 

 mile upon mile of sombre grey-green cistus, generally about 

 shoulder-high, but deepening in places into impassable 

 jungle. Here and there are stagnant pools, around whose 

 banks grow immense cork-oaks, embedded amidst tree- 

 heath (Erica arborea), giant heather and arbutus, all 

 interlaced with the twining, thorny fronds of briar. It is 

 in these dank, dark depths that the old boars select their 

 lairs, and they are the home of Lynx and Wild-Cat, 

 Badger, Genet, and Mongoose, and of many interesting 

 birds, from the Eagle to the Turtledove. The following 

 record of some of our spring rambles will give an outline 

 of the fauna of this region : — 



April 15th. — We were astir early, a few stars shining 



