35 
III. 
A i\ATURAL III«TORY TOUR IN SPAIN AND 
ALGERIA.* 
Ry J. II. Gurney, Jun., F.Z.S. 
Rend 27th September, 1870. 
I LEFT Bayonne for the Spanish frontier on the 2.5th of December, 
18G9, little suspecting that five days would elapse before I got to 
Madrid. As tlie train passed the pretty watering-place of Biarritz, 
which lies in a district full of interest, not only as the haunt of 
the stately Griffon, but as being the very ground which witnessed 
some of Wellingtons greatest battles, (in 1813,) I obtained a line 
view of the Bay of Biscay. I was disappointed in seeing no 
eagles in the Pyrenees, but the spectacle of these grand mountains, 
wrapped in snow, w;is surpassingly beautiful. W'e had the great- 
est difliculty in proceeding, and at Sumaraga the train came to a 
standstill, four engines being powerless to move her. After passing 
twentj-four hours at a village inn the train again started, and, 
after many stoppages, arrived at Alsasua, where we slept in the 
wagons. 
It was not until the 29th that I reached the capital of Spain. 
In the game markets, (at Madrid,) which I made a point of visit- 
I obtained the pintailed and black-breasted sandgrouse, 
fPterocles alehnta, P. arenarius,') crested and calandra larks, 
(Jj-alemda, cristatn, Melanocorypha coJcindra,') and saw many little 
bustards, [Otis tetrax,) as also the following species : — little owl, 
{Athene jioctua,) bean-goose, {Amer segetum,) water-rail, {Rallus 
aijuntwus,) thickknee, {(Edicnemm crepitam,) green sandpiper, 
• I am indebted to my father for assistance in the identification of species. 
D 2 
