BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME. 267 



pletely conceal the water. The Crane lays two handsome 

 eggs, greenish in hue, but suffused with brown splashes 

 and obsolete shades, about the end of April. Formerly the 

 Crane used also to breed in the marismas of the Guadal- 

 quivir, but we have not met with it there of recent years, 

 and fear it is already banished for ever from that resort. 

 It may sincerely be hoped that these majestic waterfowl, 

 whose stately appearance and resonant trumpet-note lend 

 so peculiar a charm to the wild solitudes they frequent, 

 may meet with more considerate treatment in their last 

 stronghold at Janda. 



Of the Mar Menor of Cartagena, the Albufera of Valencia, 

 and other noteworthy wildfowl resorts lying outside our 

 limits, we can speak with less certainty, not having had 

 such opportunities of exploration as in the districts to the 

 S. and W. The Albufera appears to be the western limit 

 of the range of the handsome Eed-crested Pochard 

 (Fuligula rufina), a duck we have sought in vain in 

 Andalucia ; but with this exception, and that of a few 

 stragglers, such as Hydrochelidon leucoptera and other 

 species of more Eastern distribution, the spring avifauna 

 of these localities does not materially differ from that of 

 the more western marismas and lagoons described either 

 in the present chapter or in those entitled " The Bsetican 

 Wilderness." 



The lakes of Dofiana are of no great extent, the largest 

 being the Lagunas de Santolalla, and the broad, reed- 

 choked Eocina de la Madre extending towards Eocio, all of 

 which we have explored at different seasons. 



Eiding towards the small lagoon of Zopiton on April 

 16th, its surface was seen to be dotted all over with 

 waterfowl — ducks and divers, coots and grebes. Zopiton 

 is a deep, reed-fringed pool where we have often looked in 

 vain for Fuligula rufina. On our approach, several 

 Mallards and Gadwall flew up : I shot a Gadwall drake 

 from horseback, whereupon there was commotion among 

 the denizens of that sequestered lagoon — ducks rose 

 splashing and quacking on all sides, coots "skittered" 

 across the surface, grebes vanished amidst sedges, whence 



