The Coto Dofiana 39 
ever, is a characteristic of winter in all temperate lands. Birds 
at that season are apt to be 
silent and elusive, but their 
absence is apparent rather than 
real. 
All around you, in fact, 
forest and jungle, scrub, sallow, 
and bramble-brake abound 
with minor bird-forms—with 
our British summer visitors, 
here settled down in their “> 
winter quarters; with charm- f .| 
ing exotic warblers and silent 
songsters—all off work for the 
season. Where nodding bul- : 
rush fringes quaking bog, or | 
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Vi 
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4 
. fs i} Hi 
miles of tasselled cane-brakes 4 my 
} 
border the marsh, there is the ; 
apni “ SONGSTERS” 
home of infinite feathered ese 
amphibians, crakes and rails, of reed-climbers and bush-skulkers, 
all for the nonce silent, shy, reclusive. 
ff 
A \\ 
BLACKSTART (Ruticilla titys) 
Abundant in winter ; retires to the sierra to nest. 
Their portraits, roughly caught during hours of patient waiting, 
