26 Unexplored Spain 
A Nove ON THE SPANISH FAUNA 
After all, it is less with the human element that this book is 
concerned than with the wild Fauna of Spain; a brief intro- 
ductory notice thereof cannot, therefore, be omitted. 
As head of the list must stand the Spanish Ibex (Capra 
hispdniea), a game-animal of quite first rank, peculiar to the 
Iberian Peninsula, and whose nearest relative—the Bharal (Capra 
cylindricornis)—lives 2500 miles away in the far Caucasus. In 
Spain the ibex inhabits six great mountain-ranges, each covering 
BONELLI’S EAGLE (Aquila bonellit) 
A pair disturbed at their eyrie. 
a vast area but all widely separated. After a crisis that five years 
ago threatened extermination, this grand species is now happily 
increasing under a measure of protection and the egis of King 
Alfonso. Next—a notable neighbour of the ibex (and practically 
extinct in central Europe)—we place the lone and lordly Lammer- 
geyer. A memorable spectacle it is to watch the huge Gypactus 
sweeping through space o’er glens and corries of the sierra in 
striking similitude to some weird flying dragon of Miocene age— 
a vision of blood-red inides set on a cruel head with bristly black 
beard, of hoary grey plumage and golden breast. Watch him for 
half an hour—for half a day—yet never will you discern a sign 
