702 
MR. C. A. HAMOND ON A SHORT TRIP TO SPAIN. 
Bintry, our next parish, naturally gave us a warm welcome. 
Algeciras town had few attractions beyond a multitude of Swifts, 
swarming like Bees round the towers, a Whimbrel on the rocks, 
and some Skuas Sp. 1 in the bay. In a short walk that evening 
I saw a Yiperine Snake in a pool apparently catching small fish, 
and some Blackdieaded Warblers. The fleet we found was not due 
for a week, and a gentleman who was going up to see after mines 
at Seville, advised us to go up to Cordova, Seville and Cadiz, so 
the next morning we started early by train. The line winds up 
through a succession of rough limestone gorges, the country 
being very much burnt up and brown, except where the course 
of streams was marked in pink by Oleanders. I noticed Hoopoes, 
Red-legged Partridges, Crested Larks, and a variety of birds of 
prey which I could not identify. The heat was not oppressive ; our 
friend, the mining engineer, Mr. Starkey, was most kind, and we 
had the advantage of his intimate knowledge of the country and 
language. The harvest almost entirely of bearded wheat was lying 
unprotected in sheaves or being carted to thrashing floors where 
the peasants were driving round troops of mares on the corn to 
tread the grain out, in fact, the Spanish peasant whom we expected 
to find taking the national siesta, seemed to work through the heat 
of the day with as much energy as if he were harvesting in Norfolk. 
At Cordova, the glorious mosque claimed our attention for some 
hours, and towards sunset we sat in a balcony overlooking the 
noble bridge, built by Romans, repaired by Moors, and neglected 
by Spaniards, which crosses the broad bed of the Guadalquiver. 
There were many Lesser Kestrels hawking for flies or beetles round 
the mosque. 
By rail to Seville over the wide plain of the Guadalquiver were 
many Shrikes, Goldfinches, and smaller Pinches, which I believe 
were Serin Pinches, for I saw many later. I first noticed Egyptian 
Vultures here, and Woodchat Shrikes on the telegraph wires. At 
Seville there were many Storks on the towers ; we spent some time 
in the cathedral and ascended the Giralda, whence we had 
a splendid view of Seville and the surrounding country ; there 
were here also many Lesser Kestrels which seem to be as “ temple- 
haunting ” in Spain as Jackdaws are in England. The bell-ringer 
in the tower had Red-legged Partridges in a cage ; these are 
commonly kept in Spain as call birds to lure their wild relatives 
