Birds. 1961 



a high bank or cliff on one of the tributaries of the Guadaljore. The cliff was some 

 sixty feet high, and was perforated much after the fashion of a colony of sand- 

 martins. From a friend I learned that the holes were from three to four feet deep. 

 My excursion was made during the third week in April ; and the birds had not then 

 commenced building, though they abounded in the vicinity. Indeed I am not 

 sure that the females had arrived, as all the specimens I obtained proved to 

 be males. 



The Alpine Swift {Cypselus alpinus) I saw but once in Spain. I was sketching on 

 the heights near Malaga, with my gun by my side ; and raising my eyes to take a sur- 

 vey of the prospect before me, my attention was arrested by an unusually large swift 

 skimming about with a number of its congeners. As it turned in the sunshine (just 

 out of shot) its white belly was too apparent — t that is, for my peace of mind, and the 

 completion of my sketch ; which has in consequence come to England in an unfinished 

 state : for I found it impracticable to keep one eye on my board, and the other wan- 

 dering after the bird. Subsequently at Berne I had full opportunity of observing the 

 flight of this bird. There it was abundant ; and more than once did I sit and watch 

 its gyrations around the spire of the cathedral. The flight of the Alpine swift, though 

 nearly resembling that of our common species, is readily distinguished from it. It is 

 as rapid, but steadier. While the common swift appears always in a bustle, hurrying 

 past you as if the existence of the universe depended on its being in time ; the flight 

 of the Alpine swift is deliberate and graceful. Its note is not unlike that of the kes- 

 trel, but not so loud, or in so high a key. 



The Andalucian Quail (Hemipodius tachydromus). I hoped, Mr. Editor, to have 

 fully informed myself, and enlightened your readers on the habits of this pretty and 

 interesting late addition to the British fauna ; and therefore, in all my walks into the 

 country, and in all my visits to the town markets, I kept my eyes wide open in search 

 of it. I ascertained that such a bird existed, and was known by the name of Torillo — 

 Anglice, little bull ; so called from its note, said to resemble the bellowing of the 

 veritable bull ; but I heard it not. Neither did I see the bird for weeks after I had 

 been in Andalucia. Every quail my dog flushed was to my hopes a torillo ; but disap- 

 pointment only succeeded disappointment, until in January we visited the remarkable 

 Moorish ruins of Alcala, some three leagues from Seville. Here, wandering in the 

 gipsey quarter, we stumbled upon a cage, containing a real live torillo ! All sorts of 

 questions were put and answered ; the substance of information gained was that the 

 said torillos were plentiful in the neighbourhood. I do not mean to say that my rest 

 was disturbed, but I certainly dreamed of the torillos I was to shoot the next day, ac- 

 companied, as I was to be, by an experienced casador. Many a weary mile did I 

 trudge next day, but no torillos did I see ; nor anything else scarcely. And the only 

 other example that I did see was suspended in a poulterer's stall at Cadiz. At Malaga 

 I learned from two English gentlemen sportsmen that this bird was to be found in the 

 neighbourhood, but was never abundant ; that it frequented the uncultivated lands 

 abounding with the Palmeta plant ; and they considered it to be a constant resident. 

 I made in company with one of these gentlemen a long day's unsuccessful search 

 for it. 



The Great Bustard (Otis tarda) I saw on the banks of the Guadalquivir in parties 

 of from ten to fifty. In summer this bird approaches very near to Seville, when it be- 

 comes an especial object of pursuit to the casadores. A lady told me she had known 



