674 MISS M. L. BUXTON ON A TRIP TO SPAIN. 
foot, and looking down found a large, very well marked 
Water Tortoise. After that I found several others and Land 
Tortoises too. The country abounds in Snakes and Lizards of 
every description, I believe, but oddly enough we saw very 
few ourselves. One day I saw a large Ocillated Lizard 
nearly two feet long, most beautiful, but I believe 
dreadfully destructive to young birds and eggs. Of the 
numerous Eagles and Hawks we saw, it was only possible 
to identify very few. Each day, too, I wished I knew 
more about the flowers and butterflies ; but there is the work 
of years anywhere in the South of Spain in every branch of 
Natural History, for any one who cared to go. For there is 
combined the almost tropical fauna with that of more Northern 
Europe. It seems the meeting place of North and South. 
I only saw the very outside surface of things so to speak. 
For first I had no time, and secondly I know very little about 
such things except that which is obvious to any one. Yet 
in that one week I saw more wild life than one might see in 
years at home. 
Our last day at the “ Palacio ” came all too soon, and we 
started off very early riding over to the sea. The sea is only 
about three miles riding straight from the Palacio — a thin 
belt of pine forest running along inside the sandhills that 
shut the sea out. In these hills we saw a good many tracks 
of Lynx and Wild Cat, but never got a glimpse of the 
animals themselves. We found several different kinds of 
flowers on the sandhills — Thistles of various sorts, and a good 
many bulbs that were not yet in flower. On the shore we saw 
a lot of Curlew and some Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and other 
Gulls I could not make out, also some Little Ringed Plovers. 
We rode about six miles northward along the shore — passing 
some tiny fishing settlements — mostly Portuguese — and to j udge 
by the excitement we caused, I should think they had never 
seen any human beings but their own families before ! We 
rode on to the end of our beat, and then turned inland over the 
sandhills, getting off in the middle of the day for an hour to 
eat our lunch and rest our horses. The sun was beginning to 
get fairly hot, but the cool breeze still refreshed us. It would 
