374 



WILD SPAIN. 



type, familiar in the common mallard. We could watch 

 them busily preening themselves, washing and coquetting, 

 some tugging at the sweet green grasses that grew below, 

 others daintily plucking the white water-buttercups float- 

 ing on the surface, all within five-and-twenty yards, or 

 passing and repassing close overhead, keeping up the 

 while a wild, lively chatter, mingled with the musical 

 whistle of the Wigeon. We have never seen elsewhere 

 such splendid examples of the latter species as some of 

 the old drakes shot here ; the metallic colours shone 

 with an intense lustre, and the rich dark chestnut of their 

 heads was glossed with green and purple reflections. 



At several periods there appeared to offer chances for 

 our four united barrels to realize from twenty-five to 

 thirty head : but our friends would not hear of it, and 

 when at last the signal to open fire was given, the occasion 

 was often less favourable, and the net result little more 

 than half those numbers. Our friends' anxiety for a big 

 shot had perhaps tempted them to overdo the " herding " 

 business ; it was, however, a relief to be at last allowed 

 to stand upright. The labour of crouching along, bent 

 half double for an hour at a stretch, splashing through 

 water over knee-deep and in clinging mud, is rather severe. 

 There is, moreover, but scant room for two behind a pony, 

 and the crowding intensifies the discomfort of the bent posi- 

 tion. There is the necessity to avoid bringing one's heavy- 

 nailed brogues down on one's companion's naked heels or 

 toes ; then again, no part of one's person must show in out- 

 line above or astern, and lastly there is the gun. By an axiom 

 of sport, it must never point towards man or beast ; to 

 carry it pointing downwards would never do — the muzzle 

 would be a foot under water, and upwards it would show like 

 a pole-mast above the ponies' quarters. The gun, in short, 

 for fifty-nine minutes in every hour, is simply a nuisance. 



Though the chief species of ducks against which our 

 operations were directed were the above-named — Pintails 

 and Wigeon — there were several other kinds, notably 

 Shovelers — very handsome birds, the drakes, with their 

 boldly contrasted plumage, glossy green heads and chest- 



