La Mancha 187 
to pack his 12-bore and seek the nearest Cook’s office, it should 
at once be stated that the rights-of-chase (as are all worth having, 
alike in Spain, Scotland, or England) are in private hands—those 
of the Sociedad de las Lagunas de Daimiel, a society which 
at present numbers five members, all of ducal rank, and to one 
of whom we are indebted for excellent descriptive notes. The 
lakes are guarded by keepers who have held their posts for 
generations—the family of the Escudéros. 
To claim for these far-inland lagoons a premier place among 
the great wildfowl resorts of Europe may seem extravagant— 
albeit confirmed by facts and figures that follow. But the lakes, 
be it remembered, are surrounded by that cultivation afore 
described—100-mile stubbles and so on. Another fact that 
well-nigh struck dumb the authors (long accustomed to study 
and preach the incredible mobility of bird-life) was that ducks 
shot at dawn at Daimiel are found to be cropful of rice. Now 
the nearest rice-grounds are at Valencia, distant 180 miles; 
hence these ducks, not as a migratory effort, but merely as 
incidental to each night’s food-supply, have sped at least 360 
miles between dusk and dawn. 
As autumn approaches (we quote from notes kindly given us by the 
Duke of Arion), so soon as the keepers note the arrival of incoming 
migrants, their first business consists in observing the points which these 
select for their assemblage. Then with infinite patience, tact, and skill, 
the utmost advantage is seized of those earlier groups which have chosen 
haunts nearest to points where guns may be placed most effectively. 
These favoured groups are left rigorously alone to act as decoys, while 
by gentleness and least provocative methods, the keepers induce other 
bands which have settled in less appropriate positions to unite their 
forces with the elect. Thus within a few days vast multitudes, scattered 
over wide areas, have been unconsciously concentrated within that 
“ sphere of influence “ where four or five guns may act most efficaciously. 
The supreme test of the keepers’ efficiency is demonstrated when 
this concentration is limited to some particular area designated for a 
single day’s shooting. 
The night preceding the day fixed for shooting, so soon as the 
ducks have already quitted the lagoons and spread themselves afar over 
the surrounding cornlands on their accustomed nocturnal excursions in 
search of food, the posts of the various gunners are prepared. This 
work involves cutting a channel through some islanded patch of reeds 
situate in the centre of open water. The channel is merely wide 
enough to admit the entrance of the punt from which the gunner shoots, 
