304 WILD SPAIN. 



pig, but we did not care to risk the uncertainty of a batida 

 all alone. Partridge are very scarce on all these hills, and 

 no wonder, since every farmer keeps his pair of call-birds 

 (reclamos). We had gently hinted to Francisco the unwisdom 

 of shooting partridges to decoys in spring ; but he insisted 

 it did no harm, since he only shot the cocks ! A pair or two 

 of partridges at long intervals were all we saw (two or 

 three brace a day was the utmost we could bag as a rule), 

 and these, with a few hares and a chance rabbit, are all the 

 small game of the sierra. In the marshy valleys were 

 flights of peewits (January), and the woods swarmed with 

 thrushes, blackbirds, chaffinches, green and brown linnets, 

 robins, a few redwings, and other common species. A 

 striking bird among the dense scrub on the hillsides was 

 the little Dartford warbler, a creature of such intensely 

 tame and skulking habits, that it was' impossible to get a. 

 shot beyond a few yards — which involved annihilation of 

 so tiny an atom. 



After another week's exploration, sleeping at the chozas 

 of goatherds, or in bat-haunted caves, and enduring much 

 discomfort, we decided to give it up.* On the homeward 

 journey we gave a day to the exploration of the Boca de la 

 Foz, where on a former occasion we had had a shot at a 

 Lammergeyer — a grey-brown immature bird ; but here again 

 we met with nothing but the ubiquitous vultures, and in the 

 afternoon we had paid off our guides and were starting 

 on the homeward ride, when Benitez pointed out a pajaraco 

 in the distance. At first the bird appeared an ordinary 

 griffon, some of which were close by ; but as it came over- 

 head, there was no mistaking the outlines of the Lammer- 

 geyer. Slowly the magnificent bird wheeled and sailed over- 

 head, and our eyes feasted on the object we would have given 

 two little fingers to possess. For some minutes he treated 



* We do not encumber ourselves on these bird-hunting expeditions 

 with tents, tressle-beds, indiarubber baths, and the other luxuries of the 

 regular shooting campaigns. Sometimes, after sleeping in the cerrones, 

 if no water was near, one's toilet was confined to a general " shake 

 up," like a fox-terrier turning out from his mat, and we rode on till a 

 hill-burn afforded a chance of a bath and breakfast. 



