383 
Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 
nest is found there will be four or five in its close vicinity. I 
obtained several young birds, and regret very much that I found 
it impossible to rear them. After a protracted and diligent 
search, and a good deal of cutting and hewing with a clasp- 
knife, guided by the chiding of the parent-birds, I succeeded in 
finding a nest of Cetti’s Warblers ( Potamodus cettii) in a densely- 
matted briar on the bank of a small stream which rims through 
these grounds. The young birds appeared to have only just 
left the nest, and were hopping and chattering in the briars 
close to it. The nest was built of dead leaves and a few fine 
grasses, and was placed close to the ground. I several times 
lifted my gun to shoot at the old birds, but refrained from firing 
as they were too near me; and most fortunate was it that I was 
thus prevented, as, on emerging from the thick covert, I found 
that, had I fired in the direction of the birds, I must almost 
inevitably have killed a very pretty female specimen of the 
human species who was engaged in washing clothes within a 
few yards of me, but whom I had neither seen nor heard till I 
came out of the thicket. On informing her of her escape, and 
expressing my satisfaction, she only laughed, and said, with true 
Spanish coolness, “ Ah, Caballero mio ! I should have gone to 
heaven, and they would have done nothing to you, as it was an 
accident.” 
I found that Severini, the naturalist of the Carretera de San 
Geronimo, had been on a shooting expedition in the Sierra 
Morena, and had returned with two fine male specimens of the 
Spanish Ibex ( Capra hispanica ), one of which I purchased; he 
also had brought back a nest of the Long-tailed Titmouse ( Acre - 
dula caudata), which he considered a great curiosity, never 
having before met with the bird or nest; nor did this species 
ever come under my notice in Spain. I was surprised to find 
in his shop a fine male Capercally ( Tetrao urogallus) ; but I was 
informed by a gentleman from the province of Asturias that 
this fine game bird is by no means uncommon in some parts of 
northern Spain, where it is known as “ Gallo de bosque ” and 
also occasionally termed te Faisan.” I have unfortunately, with 
the exception of a few days spent in Galicia in ]856, never 
visited any of the northern provinces of Spain ; but, from what 
/Hi 
■ 30 ( 
