388 
Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 
I was shown a Crossbill ( Loxia curvirostra ) alive in a cage in 
the village,—the story about this species here being that Carlos 
III. kept a great many of these birds in an aviary at Rio Frio, 
a shooting-lodge at a few miles* distance, of which several pairs 
escaped and established themselves in the pinar , where they 
are now common. The possessor of the Crossbill accurately 
described to me a Bullfinch (Pyrrhula vulgaris ) which I never 
met with in Spain, but which he assured me was not very un¬ 
common about San Ildefonso during the winter. On June 6th 
Manuel and Agapo went for a long day up into the forest, and 
returned with a fine female Goshawk, shot from the nest, which 
contained three young birds just hatched. He also brought in 
a good specimen of Picus major , which is the Common Wood¬ 
pecker of this district, and two specimens of Parus at&r } which 
species I had not hitherto observed in Spain. They had also 
met with two nests of Vultur monachus , each containing a young- 
bird, and a nest of Aquila pennata , which they did not examine, 
as Manuel could not manage to kill the parent bird. The next 
day I was able to get about a little on foot; and whilst Manuel 
and Agapo again went up into the forest, I wandered about 
near the village and obtained specimens of the Ortolan (. Emberiza 
hortulana), which is very abundant on the hill-sides here, where I 
also met with the Stonechat ( Pratincola ruhicola), which appears 
to be very locally distributed in Spain, as, although common in 
many parts of Andalucia, I never met with it in New Castile. 
I found nests of theWoodchat and Woodlark, but sought in 
vain for that of the Little Owl ( Athene noctua), which we were 
assured existed in a ruined chapel near the village. Manuel 
came in at night with a very fine specimen of the Cinereous 
Vulture, which he had winged with a bullet as she left her nest, 
an egg of the Booted Eagle from the nest which they found 
yesterday, and a nest with five eggs of our Common Redbreast 
[Erythacus rubecula ), which, although common throughout Spain 
in winter, breeds only in the mountains, as I found was also the 
case in Northern Italy. The boys brought in two beautiful 
nests of Ficedula hypolais, each containing five eggs, as well as 
eggs of Sylvia cinerea and Sylvia atricapilla. . The next day, 
having procured ponies, we all went up into the forest together, 
