The Coto Dojiana 45 
nocturnal pasturages at daybreak. As the last watch of night 
wears on towards the dawn, the deer, withdrawing from their 
feeding-grounds on open strath or marsh, slowly direct a course 
covertwards, lingering here and there to nibble a tempting genista, 
or to snatch up a bunch of red bog-grass on their course. We 
have reached a favourite glade, often used by deer. It is not yet 
light—rather it might be described as nearly dark—when the 
splashing of light hoofs through water puts us on the alert. A 
few moments suffice to gain a bushy point beyond; whence 
presently six or eight nebulous forms emerge from deceitful 
gloom. Of course there is not a horn among them, bar a little 
yearling, for good stags never come thus in troops, and with all 
due caution, so as to avoid alarming 
these, we hurry away to try another 
likely spot. Time is of the essence 
of this business, for light is now 
strengthening, and in another half- 
hour the deer will all have gained 
their coverts and the chance will be 
past. Again groups of hinds and 
small beasties meet our gaze; but 
some distance beyond are a couple of 
stags. It is light enough now, by 
aid of the glass, to count their points 
—only eight apiece, no use. While 
yet we watch, a pack of graceful white egrets alight close around 
the nearer deer—some dart actively between the grazing animals 
picking flies and insects from their legs and stomachs; two 
actually perching, cavalier-like, on their withers to search for ticks 
—magpies, on occasion, we have observed similarly employed. 
The sun’s rim now peers from out the watery wastes in front ; 
nothing worth a bullet has. appeared, and our morning’s work 
looks as good as lost when my companion, Pepe, detects two 
really good stags which, though already within the shelter 
of fringing pines, yet linger in a lovely glade, tempted for 
fatal minutes by a clump of flowering rosemary. ‘The wind 
demands a considerable detour; yet the pair still dally while 
we gain the deadly range, and a second later the better of the 
two drops amidst the ensnaring blue blossoms. Pepe's half 
soliloquising comment precisely interprets the Spanish estimate 
