The minor accessories of farming, such as the dairy, poultry and the

stock-yard, which, we are told, stand between many an English farmer and

ruin, are here ignored. For this, however, there is some excuse in the

vexatious and mistaken system of the octroi (_consumos_), under which

farm-produce and consumables of every kind are taxed on entering the

town. The rural farmer, it is true, escapes the town taxes, but as a

counterpoise, to tax his produce on its way to market, is clearly

saddling the wrong horse.[48] The incidence of such a burden clearly

falls upon the already over-taxed consumer in the towns, increasing the

cost of the necessaries of life. The whole system is, moreover,

arbitrary and irritating. How would one like at home to be stopped every

time he came in from a day's shooting, in order that a "duty" may be

assessed on his bag of partridge, rabbits, or quail? Or, worse still, on

a few bottles of wine which may remain unconsumed at luncheon, but which

the official of the octroi knows perfectly well were taken out into the

_campo_ that same morning?

The principal crops raised (Andalucia) are wheat, barley, beans, and

chick-pea (_garbanzo_), together with rye, alfalfa, vetches, and

canary-seed. Very few oats are sown, barley forming the chief grain-food

for horses.[49] No roots are cultivated, no manure applied, nor any

scientific rotation of crops attempted.

Neither maize nor rice are cultivated in the south, though both form

important items in other parts of the Peninsula. Rice, especially, is

grown on the Mediterranean coast (Valencia, &c.), and in Portugal.

Possibly the Andalucian marismas _might_ form "paddy-fields" that would

make San Lucar a rival of Rangoon, as similarly Cadiz _might_ compete

with Odessa. But may these "improvements" await another age! May some

few outlandish nooks and corners of Europe be left as God made them,

where primæval conditions may yet survive, and wild nature reign in

uncontaminated glory--at least during our time.

Much could easily be done to bring Spanish farming nearer to European

standards. Improvements will come, one day or another: already the dawn

of a more active industrial life is beginning to glimmer. But as yet the

flutter extends only to manufactures, not to agriculture. Capitalists

are beginning to furnish their factories with the appliances of modern

machinery, and Spanish workmen are found capable of adapting themselves,

by their intelligence and attention, to the new conditions, and to bear

a fair comparison with the workmen of other countries.

The wave of progress is at present confined to the foundry, the mine,

and the workshop, but will some day, perhaps, extend to the

_campo_--substitute the steam-plough and reaper for the sluggish ox-team

and sickle, the steam-thrasher for the trotting brood-mares, and

metamorphose into an active industry the present drowsy, old-world

routine of Spanish agriculture.

Progress in Spain moves with halting step, and it were folly to cherish

sanguine expectations. Such a change can only come with altered

conditions in the people. Why, for example, try to improve dairy

arrangements when there is no demand for fresh butter? Why trouble with

the cattle when the fighting bull is the prize animal of the pasture?

What encouragement is there to improve the grazing of stock when an

enthusiast who had stall-fed his beasts is told by the butcher, "if you

wish me to sell any more of your animals, you must send them _without

fat_"? Hitherto this gentleman's efforts to reform the national taste

have resulted in utter collapse. Fattened joints are, in Spain, in

advance of the age, amongst a people wedded to the flesh-pots of the

_puchero_, wherein the beef is required to be, above all things, lean.

The fat of the pig only is appreciated in Spanish cuisine.

CHAPTER XIX.

ON SPANISH AGRICULTURE--(CONTINUED).

THE OLIVE.

Interspersed amidst the monotony of corn-land and vineyard is seen the

peculiar foliage of the olive. Its regular rows of sober green cover

many of the higher lands and hillsides, and its produce, next to corn

and wine, occupies the third place of importance. Outside the ancient

_huertas_, where since Moorish days the orange, lemon, and citron have

been carefully tended and watered, the olive is the only cultivated

tree; and well does it repay the minimum of care which it requires. The

olive enters largely into the economy of every-day existence, forming an

important element both in the food and light of the Spanish people.

Olive-oil is the universal illuminant--in a little saucer with

rudely-fixed cotton wick (the _mariposa_), it lights the herdsman's

choza, the cottage, and cortijo: this oil is also a leading article of

consumption with all classes. To the poor it is an absolute necessary,

taking the place occupied by meat among northern nations, giving flavour

and zest to the hard bread and to the tough dry stock-fish imported from

Newfoundland or Norwegian fjord--besides being an essential ingredient

in the universal gazpacho. The fruit itself, in various forms, gives a

national flavour to nearly every dish. Every one eats olives, from the

wayfarer on the dusty highroad, whose hunch of dry bread is sweetened by

a handful of the piquant fruit, to the Madrilenian epicure who at

Lhardy's restaurant demands the "Reinas" from Seville. These olives are

of large size,--almost like walnuts--and are only rivalled in flavour

by the "manzanillas," a smaller variety more resembling the French

olive, but, to our thinking, of superior taste.

These two kinds are carefully gathered in late autumn, and are in

universal demand throughout the Peninsula. Beyond its boundaries they

are little known or appreciated, though some few have already found

consumers in the north of Europe.

[Illustration: "WAITING FOR DEATH."]

Although the olive-trees are of the hardiest nature--otherwise they

could not survive, without irrigation, the intense heats of summer--yet

the crop is a precarious one. After the fruit has been gathered in

December, or rather beaten off the trees, for that is the method

adopted, the olives destined for the oil-mill are subjected to severe

pressure by rudely-constructed wooden screws, often supplemented by

stone-weights--again the simplest appliances of modern machinery are

often neglected--and the oil extracted is drawn off and separated into

different qualities. None, however, is of that grade--or rather its

manufacture and elaboration are too rough and careless, to enable the

Spanish produce to compete with the refined neutral oils of Italy and

France. With a little more care in its manufacture, and more energy in

its introduction to foreign markets, the rich oils of Spain might

doubtless be made a source of much additional national wealth.

Its substantial qualities, and in particular its power of long

sustaining light, are appreciated in Russia, where it is superseding the

oils of other countries for its reliable illumination of the _icons_, or

sacred lamps. The religious tenets of the Muscovites require that these

small lamps, suspended before their images, should burn brightly,

without trimming, through the longest winter nights of eighteen or

twenty hours. The little glass tumblers of the icons are filled to the

brim with Spanish oil: a perforated metal bar placed across, holds the

lightly-twisted cotton wick, and once lighted the little lamp burns

brightly, without smoke or attention, through the longest nights of the

northern winter.

At present the preparation and export of Spanish oil is almost

monopolized by the port of Malaga.

HORSE-BREEDING AND LIVE STOCK.

Andalucia is the breeding-ground of the best horses of the Peninsula:

many of the landowners are possessed of well-known "brands," as they are

called, and the farmers are almost universally interested in horses to

some extent. Great strides have been made of recent years in the

improvement of the breeds through the importation of thorough-bred

English sires, &c. This is, indeed, the one branch of rural industry in

which a decided advance has been made. Since the introduction of racing

into the country by Englishmen, about 1867--Jerez de la Frontera being

the cradle of this, as of most other sports--the superiority of the

present breed has been thoroughly established. Horses of a larger and

better stamp than formerly are now seen bearing the branded device of

the various provincial herds, it being still the custom to brand each

foal with the particular sign of the stud to which it belongs.

For temper and enduring powers the old Spanish hack could never be

improved upon; but in shape and make the race had sadly degenerated

since the Spanish Gennet was the favourite and fashionable steed of the

wealthy both in France and England. The heavy Flemish stallions

introduced by Carlos Quinto--of which Velasquez' pictures give us the

type--account for this falling-off from the earlier form of that

high-bred Arab race which long ago supplied the wants of a nation of

horsemen--the _Caballeros_, whose interests in life were coloured and

directed by a devotion to knight-errantry unparalleled in other lands,

and which still leaves its impress on the thought and habit of the

_Hidalgos_ of to-day.

Now, however, the Andalucian horse bids fair to regain his ancient

prestige; some of the more ambitious _haras_ boast their strings of

pedigree-stock, and the stud-book of Spain is an established

institution, its register having been zealously kept till this year, by

the sportsman-grandee, the late Duke of Fernan Nuñez.

In contrast to these favoured breeds, and at the other extremity of the

scale, we have the almost wild horses of the marismas, which shift for

themselves throughout the year on the open wastes, and fly, like the

deer, from the unaccustomed sight of man. The heats of summer, the cold

and wet of winter, are faced in turn by this hardy race, which, in

return for their freedom, provide their owners with a yearly contingent

of sturdy offspring. These youngsters are only separated from the wild

herds, "rounded up," and captured with great difficulty--after long and

fast chases on the open plains. Perfect little demons of vice and fury

they are, too, when caught, shaggy and unkempt little beasts, coated

with dried mud, biting at each other, quarrelling and screaming with

savage rage--a _corral_ full of them newly-caught is indeed a singular

sight. On many of the old mares of the marisma the hand of man has never

placed a halter.

Of the fine description of Spanish merino sheep, so celebrated till the

beginning of the eighteenth century, and so rigorously guarded and

protected by Spanish Governments, there remains to-day hardly a trace.

France, Sweden, and Saxony found means about that period to obtain

specimens of the Spanish breed, and with them departed the glory of the

privileged race. There remain now in Spain but degenerate

representatives. Years of apathy have left to her little but the

coarsest breed of sheep both as to flesh and fleece. The race from which

nearly all the best European varieties have originated is now, perhaps,

the lowest on the list.

Mutton is comparatively scarce in the southern _mercados_, where for one

sheep may be seen a dozen kids exposed for sale. The latter--strange

parti-coloured little beasts--together with the ubiquitous pig and

tough, stringy beef, provide most of the meat consumed in Spain, whose

scant quantity and poor quality is eked out by vast supplies of small

birds--Larks, Buntings, Quails, and the like--which are caught by means

of a dark-lantern at night, as we have elsewhere described; whole

festoons of small birds, with Partridge, wildfowl, and Little Bustards,

adorn the market-stalls in the Spanish cities, flanked by Roe and Red

Deer from the forests, and sometimes by a grizzly boar from the sierra.

The Spanish markets also afford a wondrous display of southern fruits

and vegetables--whole mountains of golden melons and _sandias_, tons of

tomatoes and pimientos (red pepper), prickly pears, purple-ripe figs,

loquats, apricots, grapes, and other fruit according to season; with

lettuces, wild asparagus and a host of other vegetables. From every

house in the town comes a servant to purchase the day's requirements of

fish, flesh, fowl, or fruit--for everything is bought and consumed from

day to day. There is no "cold mutton" in a Spanish menu! By eight

o'clock, but little remains unsold, so an early start is needed to see

the best of the show.

To return to the muttons: it should be added that Spain is now

practically the only European country which still exports wool to the

London market--upwards of a million and a half pounds' weight of Spanish

wool annually reaching the Thames.

SUPPLEMENT.

Since writing the above, we have come across an interesting article on

this subject in one of the best Spanish papers (the _Epoca_), from which

we translate the following extracts, giving the native version of the

present agricultural status:--"We must confess that the condition of

Spanish agriculture is sufficiently deplorable, not only by reason of

the apathy of its agriculturists, but also through the difficulties

which the land presents to its perfect cultivation, to the use of

manures, and the employment of modern machinery. It must be borne in

mind that the land of the abrupt mountains of the Asturias, Galicia, and

Cataluña condemns the country-people to the roughest and most laborious

preparation. This is shared, though to a less extent, by the

_labradores_ of the arid regions of Guipúzcoa, Biscay and Navarre; of

the ricefields of Valencia, and on the sunburnt _vegas_ of Andalucia and

Estremadura. Besides these physical difficulties there are other

disadvantages of hardly less importance. A vast extent of terrain now

lies waste and uncultivated through lack of capital and sparseness of

population; through the heavy tribute exacted by the state on

agricultural produce, and the absence of means of communication to

economize the transport of the harvest.

"Notwithstanding these immense difficulties, the Spanish agriculturist

produces on fifty-six million _hectares_ of cultivable land an excess

over the consumption of sixty-one million _hectolitres_[50] in cereals

alone.

"The _superficies rustica_ of Spain may be classed in the following

form:--

"Without cultivation of any kind 42·8 per cent.{*}

Cultivated 28·6 "

Pasture (_terreno de pasto_) 14·6 "

Woods, orchards, and gardens 14·0 "

-----

100·0

{*} 45·8 is the figure stated, but as that would exceed the 100 we have

reduced it accordingly.

"The average value of this superficies, according to annual production;

and the capital which it represents, is as follows:--

Class. Annual produce. Capital.

Cultivated £180,400,000 £220,720,000

Pasture 31,960,000 153,280,000

Woods, gardens, &c. 31,568,000 49,280,000

"If we take into account that the 42·8 per cent.{*} of uncultivated land

has also its 'prairie value,' it may be safely calculated that the

landed property of Spain represents a sum of £560,000,000 (five hundred

and sixty millions sterling).

"The number of inhabitants of Spain who devote themselves to agriculture

is, according to the census returns, 4,821,875."

The same article gives a summary of the 22,291 mills and flour-factories

of Spain, by which it appears the motive power used is as follows:--

Steam 374 (!)

Wind 541

Horses 56

Hand 787

Water (various systems) 20,533

------

Total 22,291

From a current number of a daily paper we cut the following

advertisement, as showing the value set on _water_ in thirsty

Spain:--"To be let, the grazing-grounds (_dehesa_) of Junco Real, in the

district (_termino_) of Chichlana. Contains 1,075 _fanegas_ of brushwood

and 237 of cultivation (_labor_), with SIX WELLS."

CHAPTER XX.

BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME.

I.--THE PINALES, OR PINE REGION.

There are features of Spanish bird-life that give the subject a claim on

the interest of British readers. Spain is the home of many of those

species which we call "rare;" some of the rarest are here quite common.

Especially is this the case with the large birds of prey, with many

aquatic species--such as the beautiful Southern Herons--and various

other bird-groups.

Lying midway between Europe and Africa, Spain also affords opportunity

for the observation of migration--nearly all our British summer-birds

can be observed here in transit, during the spring months: some, indeed,

have wintered in Spain, while the rest appear on passage from Africa to

the North.

More than this, Spain possesses a magnificent avi-fauna of her own,

entirely unknown in England. Ornithologically, her southern

provinces--at least in spring--might be included in what Mr. Sclater

designates the "Cis-atlantean Subregion" (_Ibis_, 1891, p. 523), for

their feathered denizens at that season approximate rather to the North

African than to the European _ornis_.

Nor need these spring-notes be interesting _exclusively_ to the

naturalist: for observation in the wilder and more remote regions

involves a degree of hard work and of field-craft that brings this

bird-hunting fairly within the category of _sport_. Cases in point, as

those of the Flamingo and Crane--elsewhere described, and of the eagles

and large raptores. Here, for example, is one day's record from our

diary:--"Camp at Navasso Redondo, _April 18th_.--Our captures to-day

included 3 eagles, 4 kites, 2 large hawks, 5 ducks, an egret, 2

stone-plover, &c. First, Felipe woke me at day-break to say a pair of

_aguiluchos_ had just coursed and killed a hare within 200 yards of the

tent. Turned out in jersey and _alparagatas_, and stalked the spot

indicated, when a small eagle flew from a tree away in the scrub to the

left. I stood up, thinking the game was gone, when a second Booted Eagle

(_Aquila pennata_) rose from the ground not forty yards ahead, and was

secured. Later on, during the mid-day heat, we _thrice_ descried eagles

perched on high trees--unusual luck. Both the first and second stalks

failed, owing partly to bad marking in the first case, and to

'impossible' terrain in the second. The third, however, I killed--a very

handsome tawny eagle. He was sitting on a pine in the centre of a

circular swampy jungle: there was no considerable difficulty in creeping

round the outside, nor till the final, direct approach commenced, when

the ground became very bad--for the last 100 yards, strong briar-bound

thicket and tussocks of spear-grass with deep bog-pools between, water

up to one's waist. Had got to fifty yards when he saw me, and a lucky

shot killed him as he opened his wings. Also stalked to-day two

Harriers--a Marsh-Harrier (female) and a beautiful blue old Montagu: in

the first case the stalk was supplemented by a short 'drive' by Felipe.

At dusk we observed a pair of Serpent-Eagles go to roost in a large

single _alcornoque_: waited till dark, when we crept, barefoot, towards

the tree, one on either side, and I killed the female eagle as she flew

out into the moonlight. During the day we had found five nests of the

Kite--shot four birds for identification, two from nest, the others

after long _puestos_--and also brought in, besides the eagles, &c., two

Gadwall, a Garganey drake, two White-eyed Pochard, an egret, seven terns

(various), several small birds, and twenty-nine eggs--a memorable day!"

To stalk to within gunshot of an eagle, on the open plain, is almost as

difficult an operation as any in our experience--that is unless, as

sometimes happens, the conditions are unusually favourable.

During several springs we have made ornithological expeditions each of a

fortnight to three weeks' duration, in various parts of Andalucia

(itself nearly as large as England), La Mancha, and Southern

Estremadura. Between the great rivers Guadalquivir and Guadiana lies a

wild region, almost abandoned to wild animals, and rich in picturesque

desolation. The district is an undulating plain, its chief physical

constituent being sand, or light sandy soil, clad over wide areas with

pine-forest, elsewhere with open heaths which extend from the Atlantic

to the confines of Estremadura and the border-land between Spain and

Portugal, or rather of the ancient kingdom of the Algarves. The southern

portion is known as the _Cotos del Rey_ and _Doñana_, the latter,

extending some forty miles inland from the sea, the property of the

noble house bearing one of the oldest European titles--that of Medina

Sidonia. The Coto de Doñana, as the name implies, is a preserve, and,

owing to the circumstance of our having for many years been lessees of

the sporting rights, this lovely wilderness has formed a favourite

hunting-ground at all seasons. But we have also traversed some other of

the wilder regions of the south--many quite as rich, zoologically--such,

for example, as the wooded province of Córdova, the _vegas_ of the

Sierra Nevada and the environs of Almaden; and we now believe that, for

the naturalist, the richest field of all is in Southern Estremadura and

the almost unexplored borders of Guadiana. That river, from Daimiel

downwards, flows through wildernesses of cane-brake, abounding both in

large and small game, and in spring-time with infinite variety of birds.

For our present purpose we have divided the Spanish plains into three

sections:--the pine-forests, the open heaths, and the meres or lagoons;

of these we will now take the _pinales_.

The first thing that strikes an Englishman in Spain is the number and

variety of the birds of prey. At home we have practically exterminated

these, but here they are ever in evidence, from massive eagles and yet

larger vultures down to the smallest falcons. Those bald-headed

fellows, hunting low with heavy flight, or "drifting" alternately on

motionless pinions, are Marsh-Harriers; the long-winged hawks, like

giant swallows, are the Montagu's Harrier. Buzzards are of more soaring

flight, resembling in form the eagles, but lacking their regal presence;

while the Kites are recognized by the deeply forked tail. Ever since

Rugby days and the Kestrel's nest in Caldecott's classic spinney, the

birds of prey have had a special attraction to the writer--to whom,

_pace_ the later lights of ornithological science, a hawk still holds

the chief place among birds.

Starting on a bright April morning to traverse the _pinales_ of La

Marismilla, our first find was a nest of the Serpent-Eagle (_Circäetus

gallicus_) built in the main fork of a stone-pine, a curiously twisted

tree growing apart on a heathery knoll in a forest-glade. This, and all

the nests of this eagle we have seen, was small, very thick in

proportion to width, had a layer of dead leaves, and then a lining of

twigs. This bird only lays one egg--large, rough, and white--which fact

perhaps explains the relative smallness of their nests. Below are strewn

many vertebræ of serpents; a female we shot had a snake four feet long

in her beak, only a few inches hanging outside; another, killed at her

nest in a mountain-forest of the sierra, had a rabbit; but snakes and

large reptiles are their chief prey. Snakes abound in Spain, and some

grow to great size, many reaching six feet in length, and we have killed

lizards of nearly three.

The legs and feet of this eagle are pale bluish, and very rough--to hold

their slippery prey. The eye is large, overhung, and very bright yellow;

flight buoyant, but rather unsteady, and they show very white from

below. Most reptiles hybernating, even in sunny Spain, the Serpent-Eagle

is only a summer migrant--we have never observed it in the winter

months. The date of arrival this year (1891) was March 8th. In 1888 we

observed a pair as early as the 3rd.

Both eagles soared around so near that there was no difficulty in

recognizing the species; indeed their heavy heads--almost

owl-like--recurved wings and white under-sides, cannot be mistaken.[51]

Not requiring them as specimens, we continued our ride, and during the

day found two nests of the Buzzard, each with three eggs; the only nests

of this species found this spring--except one with young in June--the

Buzzard being more numerous in winter, when almost every dead tree is

occupied by one of these indolent hawks. All the Spanish-breeding

Buzzards are of the normal dark brown type. The Goshawk (_Astur

palumbarius_) we have also observed in these Andalucian forests both in

spring and winter, but have not chanced to find it breeding here

ourselves, though it is on record that it occasionally does so.

The next two nests discovered were both those of the Kite (_Milvus

ictinus_), each on a lofty pine. There are in Spain two kinds of Kite,

whose wild musical scream is characteristic of these lonely woodlands.

There is the _Milano real_--the Red Kite, resident in Spain, and

distinguishable from the migrant Black Kite (_Milvus migrans_) by the

broad white band on the under-wing, caused by the basal half of the

primaries being white beneath (this band in _M. migrans_ being

smoke-grey), and by the more deeply forked tail. The Black Kite is

altogether a more dusky coloured species.

The eggs of the two species, and those of Buzzards and others, are

indistinguishable; it is therefore necessary to shoot or trap the birds

from the nest to make sure of identification. But the Red Kite breeds

earlier (at the end of March, and early in April) and in more secluded

spots than its ally, whose habits, moreover, are, in places, almost

gregarious. We have seen a score of Black Kites' nests in a small patch

of wood, not two acres--but eggs are not laid till quite the end of

April or early in May.

[Illustration: Plate XXX.

KITES AND MARSH-HARRIERS.

Page 242.]

A singular, but well-known, habit of the Kite (the Red, not the Black

species) is to decorate their abodes with a collection of gaudy rags and

other fantastic rubbish: in one case I found the dead and dried remains

of a White Owl hung up, in others the long quill-feathers of the

Spoon-bill and other birds, a linen shirt-sleeve, old match-boxes, and

similar sundries. But this curious custom was useful in saving many an

unnecessary climb--no nest was worth going up to unless a rag or two

fluttered in the breeze. The Kites, moreover, select the loftiest trees

for their abodes, and owing to the habit of Spanish foresters to lop off

all the lower branches of the pines when saplings, these trees grow up

tall, straight, and slippery as fishing-rods. Fortunately for oological

enterprise, the scant population of the _pinales_ are mostly

_piñaleros_--pine-cone gatherers. These pine-cones are used for fuel and

for making a confection something like _nougat_. The tree-climbing

abilities of the _piñaleros_ are marvellous: in this way we obtained

many eggs of Kite, Buzzard, Booted Eagle, and most of the

forest-breeding species.

After a stiff climb to one Kite's nest, built in a tall branchless

aspen, whose base was barricaded by clinging thorny briars, I was

disappointed to find no eggs. The Kite had sat close, and I had just

shot her from the nest: all around hung the customary decorations, yet

the big nest appeared to contain nothing but a white rag. I turned this

over, and there, beneath and almost wrapt in what proved to be a

delicate cambric handkerchief, embroidered with the name "Antonia M.,"

lay two handsome eggs! The fair Andaluza who had lost this property

might throw an interesting light on the distances traversed by Kites in

the search thereof: Shakespeare warned her (_Winter's Tale_, Act IV.,

Sc. 2), "Where the Kite builds, look to lesser linen."

Another denizen of the _pinales_ requires passing notice--the Raven. It

is curious that in Spain these birds nest later than in northern lands.

In Northumberland the Raven lays early in March, or even at the end of

February, amidst snow and frost. Here, on the last day of April, we

found two nests on pines not far apart. One was warmly lined with

sheep's wool, but still empty; the other with rabbits' fur, and

contained five fresh eggs.

The nests of Ravens, Kites, Buzzards, and Booted Eagles are hardly

distinguishable from below, except that the eagle usually selects the

main fork, the others building out on the lateral branches. In the

crevices and foundations of all these large nests are often inserted the

untidy, grass-built edifices of the chestnut-headed Spanish Sparrow

(_Passer salicicolus_), a forest-loving species, not found in the haunts

of men like his cousin of the streets, and having a special predilection

for sharing the homes of the larger raptores, as our Sparrows at home

build under the nests in a rookery.

The large birds of prey are always difficult to shoot, even at their

nests: and for capturing them the circular steel-traps proved

invaluable, saving much time and being almost certain in their action.

The miseries of a _puesto_, or ambush, of an hour, or even two, lying on

the burning sand, in the stifling heat of the underwood, to await the

return of the birds, one does not forget. For minutes that pass like an

eternity, the keen-eyed Kite will hover and sail overhead; meanwhile a

hissing column of mosquitoes have focussed themselves over one's face:

black ants, like small dumb-bells, and creeping things innumerable,

penetrate up one's sleeve and down one's neck: while at the critical

moment, when one must remain rigidly motionless, a huge hairy spider of

hideous mien gently lowers itself on to one's nose.

A Kite or Buzzard is too cautious to return directly to the nest.

Alighting first on a distant pine, it will approach by three or four

flights, and at last one knows that the coveted prize sits well within

shot, but either directly behind, or in such a position that (from the

ambush) the gun cannot be brought to bear. The trap saved all this, and

rarely failed to secure such specimens as were required--many caught by

the beak and killed instantly.[52]

[Illustration: Plate XXXI.

SAND-DUNES AND CORRALES OF DOÑANA.

Page 245.]

A characteristic of the forests of Doñana are the enormous

sand-hills--mountains of blown sand dazzling in the reflected sunlight,

and devoid of green thing or trace of life, beyond the track of prowling

Lynx or Mongoose, or the curious "broad-gauge" _vestigia_ of the

tortoise. Stay: there is a thin black strip of moving objects--they are

all ants, and that is one of their great highways--a beaten track

connecting two great industrial centres. Except on the chosen line--a

mere strip barely an inch wide, though hundreds of yards in length--not

another insect will be visible on the wastes of sand. To the selected

route each member of their infinite community confines his course as

systematically as the steamships of our great ocean lines. One cannot

resist the temptation of interrupting this well-regulated microcosm.

Instantly confusion spreads in the black ranks: around the point of

obstruction the intercepted battalions spread out like a fan: the tumult

and disorder extend backwards along either column till for yards the

sand is carpeted with the fragments of a disorganized host. But these

scattered units are each seeking to re-establish their lost continuity.

The re-formed column deflects a little to pass on one side or the other

(not both), and in a few minutes the "trade-route" has resumed its

former monotonous regularity.

Elsewhere the sand-wastes are clothed, especially in their deeper dells

and hollows, with cistus-scrub or tamarisk, and the stone-pine (_Pinus

pinea_) somehow finds sustenance and even luxuriates. How plant-life can

survive on the remnants of pulverized rock is a mystery--though here,

perhaps, the deep-seated roots strike into alluvial soil below--and no

more comprehensible in view of the analogous fact that the vines

producing the richest Spanish wines also flourish in equally ungenial

soils. The vintages of Jerez are garnered from grapes grown on arid and

silicious soil: the strong red wine of Val-de-Peñas, so grateful in

torrid Spain, comes, literally, from a "valley of stones," and in the

Alto Douro the vineyards occupy hillsides composed of little bits of

(what looks like) broken slate and disintegrated shale, so little

coherent, that the slopes must be terraced before they are cultivable.

Strange anomalies--plant a vine in rich soil, and you get vine

leaves--in tropical lands, the vine becomes a barren evergreen--in arid

soil or shale, it produces nectar.

Firm and compacted as appears the substance of these sand-hills--the

sandstone of a future age--it yet retains, to some extent, its shifty

and unstable character. At intervals its masses elect to move onwards

and to engulf forests over which, for centuries, they have impended.

Immediately below where we sit, the ridge terminates, abrupt as a

precipice. Two hundred yards beyond, the sloping sand-foot is studded

with half-buried pines--several forest monarchs already entombed to

their centres, alive, but struggling in their death-throes. Of others,

farther back, only the topmost branches protrude, sere, yellow, and

dead, from the devouring particles. And beneath those glistening sands,

hidden far from sight, doubtless there rest the skeletons of buried

forests of bygone days.

Just above us in the peak of the stone-pine under whose shade we enjoy

the midday rest, is a huge platform of sticks--a deserted throne of the

king of birds. Now this eyrie is deserted, the daylight shows through

its centre, and the tree is occupied by different tenants--a pair of

Cushats: before now we have seen them share the same tree with the

tyrant. Bird-notes are hushed during the midday heat, and silence reigns

over the forest: presently from afar comes the strident _kark, kark_ of

the Raven, and then from mid-air resounds the musical scream of a Kite

floating in the heaven above.

Riding along the open glades, the most conspicuous birds in spring are

the brilliant Rollers and Hoopoes, parties of Hawfinches and Crossbills,

always shy, an occasional Spotted Cuckoo (_C. glandarius_) or Southern

Grey Shrike (_L. meridionalis_); handsome Woodchats (_L._ _rufus_)

scold in every bush, and various Finches and Woodpeckers, Tits and

Creepers, enliven the woodlands, and sprightly Rufous Warblers the drier

plain. Among the cane-brakes and _carices_ that fringe the marshy

hollows skulk several other warblers--the Great Sedge and Black-headed

Warblers (_S. arundinacea_ and _melanocephala_), Orphean, Cetti's, and

the little Fantail, besides our familiar Willow-Wrens, Chiffchaffs,

Blackcaps, Redstarts and Robins--the latter resident, and very bright in

colour. The Black Redstart has already disappeared (April), but from day

to day one sees our British migrants arriving, resting, or passing

forward on their northern journey. Swallows especially are conspicuous:

to-day the air is alive with them, sweeping along the open glades:

to-night they roost in chattering hosts in the trees around our

camp--to-morrow they are gone, not a swallow remains: and this occurs a

dozen times during April and May.

On April 13th and two following days there occurred a conspicuous

"through transit" of Pied Flycatchers, and two days later (in another

year) the brushwood was alive with Redstarts, all on passage. On the

25th we were visited for a couple of hours by hundreds of Alpine Swifts:

and the same evening the large Red-necked Nightjars (_C. ruficollis_)

arrived, to add their churring note to the crepuscular chorus of frogs

and night-birds for the rest of the spring and summer. One evening in

May, while watching a pair of Golden Orioles to their nest, I witnessed

a rather curious eviction. A Spanish Green Woodpecker (_Gecinus

sharpii_), her gullet crammed with ants, flew to a hole in a wild-olive,

but was met at the entrance by a furious Little Owl (_Athene noctua_),

which soon drove the clumsier bird (which had no idea of self-defence)

screaming to the shelter of some brushwood. Soon after, her mate

returned, but met with a similar reception, the savage little owl

perching meanwhile on an adjacent branch, where he sat bolt upright, all

fluffed out, and snapping with rage. On examining the place, I found the

woodpeckers had a numerous family, nearly ready to fly: while the owl

had deposited a single egg in an adjoining hole. The execution of the

aggressor seemed, at first, the only means of saving this thriving

family, but, on second thoughts, I decided that the justice of the case

would be met by removing the defendant's egg, and filling up his hole

with sticks.

The Orioles' nest I shortly afterwards discovered, built in a white-elm,

at the extreme end of a long pendant branch, the whole of which it was

necessary to cut down. This nest, however, was empty. The Golden Orioles

do not lay till nearly the middle of May, and from the shyness of the

old birds, and the aërial situation of the nest, their eggs are among

the most difficult to obtain.

[Illustration: HOOPOES.]

During the early part of May we found many nests of Hoopoes, some in

hollow trees, one in a ruined outhouse, which we were using as a stable,

and which, in a previous year, had been similarly occupied by a Roller,

and always affords a home to two or three pairs of the Spotless or

Sardinian Starling (_Sturnus unicolor_), a species which, in spring,

replaces the common kind. On the outskirts of the woods were many nests

of Goldfinch and Serinfinch, Common and Green Linnets, Blue and Great

Tit, Willow-Wren, Woodchat, &c.; and in the open rushy glades, those of

Black-headed Warbler, Blackcap and Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Spotted

Flycatcher, Grey-headed Wagtail (_Motacilla cinereocapilla_), and

others. I looked in vain in these pine-woods for the Crested Tit, which

occurs near Gibraltar, and which my brother found numerous in Navarre.

On the 10th May I found a couple of Nightingales' nests in the tiny

garden-patch adjoining a forester's cot, and a week later obtained

several nests of the Melodious Willow-Warbler (_Hypolais polyglotta_)

with their beautiful vinous-pink eggs; later still (May 28th), those of

the Rufous Warbler (_Ædon galactodes_) among the cactus-bushes:--but

this is getting suspiciously like a catalogue.

One circumstance deserves passing remark--the relatively smaller number

of eggs laid in the south than is the case with many of the same species

further north. In Spain, several of the warblers, &c. above mentioned,

lay only four eggs; the Blackbird, as a rule, but three, and these much

brighter coloured than at home.

Delightful days were those spent riding through these pathless forests,

redolent of the exhalations of pine and rosemary, and a hundred aromatic

shrubs, and resplendent with the glory of the southern spring-time. What

words can convey the contrast of dark _pinal_ and dazzling sand-waste,

or catch the play of sunlight glancing through massed foliage on russet

trunks and the soft pale verdure of the brushwood? For long leagues

these forests stretch unbroken save by rushy glades and park-like opens,

where at dusk the Red Deer come to seek rich pasturage, and the Wild

Boar ploughs deep trenches in his search for succulent roots, varied by

a _bonne-bouche_ of mole-crickets.

CHAPTER XXI.

BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME.

II.--THE CISTUS-PLAINS AND PRAIRIES.

Leaving the pinal, or pine region, let us spend a fortnight in the open

bush-land beyond. Passing successively the famous manchas of the Alameda

Honda, the Rincon de los Carrizos, and Majáda Real--each coverts of

repute, though all unknown to geographers and marked upon no map--we

traverse next the forest-glades of the Angosturas, and enter upon a

different region, where fresh landscapes and new beauties await

appreciative eyes. Here the swelling sand-dunes trend away

southwards--towards the sea. The dark bushy pine gives place to open

heath and brushwood, stretching away to the horizon, here and there

diversified with scattered clumps of cork-oak, aspen, wild-olive, and

poplar.

The country around our quarters is a level plain of evergreen

scrub--lentiscus, broom, heaths of varied kinds, and mile upon mile of

sombre grey-green cistus, generally about shoulder-high, but deepening

in places into impassable jungle. Here and there are stagnant pools,

around whose banks grow immense cork-oaks, embedded amidst tree-heath

(_Erica arborea_), giant heather and arbutus, all interlaced with the

twining, thorny fronds of briar. It is in these dank, dark depths that

the old boars select their lairs, and they are the home of Lynx and

Wild-Cat, Badger, Genet, and Mongoose, and of many interesting birds,

from the Eagle to the Turtledove. The following record of some of our

spring rambles will give an outline of the fauna of this region:--

[Illustration: A SERENADE.]

_April 15th._--We were astir early, a few stars shining dimly, and the

last of the frogs still croaking in the _acequias_, as we sipped our

matutinal chocolate upon the verandah;

[Greek:

brekekehex kohax kohax,

brekekehex kohax kohax,]

repeat the frogs, as in the Stygian chorus of old. Far away over the

half-lit expanse of cistus a pair of large eagles were already hunting

for their breakfast, and an owl slipped close overhead and disappeared

into a crevice of the roof above, where we could hear the snoring and

snapping of the strigine community as the night's booty was being

discussed. We were away by sunrise, at which hour the singular, resonant

song of the Partridge-cocks (Red-legs) was ubiquitous: from almost every

ilex-grove came the half-choking _chukàr, chukàr_, while the love-sick

bird bowed and gesticulated, standing nearly bolt upright with

half-expanded wings on some dead branch or shattered trunk, sometimes on

the crest of a sand-ridge.[53]

Within a quarter-mile of the lodge we found a Kite's nest, shot the old

bird, replaced her two eggs with two hen's eggs and a steel-trap: and

had hardly ridden two hundred yards ere the male swept down and was

caught. Seldom are so fine a pair of birds secured so easily! During

this day we found no fewer than six nests, for the Kite, as before

stated, prefers the open country to the forest, and almost each clump of

cork-trees was tenanted by a pair. These cork-groves are also occupied

by many other species--by birds of plumage whose resplendent hues appear

almost tropical--such as Golden Oriole, Roller, Bee-eater, Hoopoes,

Woodpeckers, Azure-winged Magpie, and others hardly less brilliant. Amid

the ilex-groves the Golden Oriole hangs suspended, hovering like a

Kestrel in mid-air, his rich orange lustre justifying the Spanish

name--_oropendola_: the Roller, clad in chestnut and azure, and rich

parti-coloured Hoopoes and Pied Woodpeckers flit among the foliage.

Presently a harsh "chack, chack" announces the arrival of a wandering

party of Bee-eaters, most brilliant of European birds; and a score of

these sweep round, alternately rising and poising, or soaring on

clean-cut, hawk-like wing, then darting downwards amidst the masses of

flowering heaths in pursuit of industrious _aphidæ_. The Bee-eaters pass

on: but there is no truce for the insect-world, for other deadly

enemies, the Woodchat and Southern Grey Shrike, sit by on every bush,

intent on impaling heavy-flying bee or beetle. From the alcornoques

there resounds the shrieking maniacal laughter of the flame-coloured

Spanish Woodpecker (_Gecinus sharpii_) as he flies heavily from tree to

tree with rustling, undulated flight: then there is an occasional

Azure-winged Magpie (_Cyanopica cookii_), there are Wood-Pigeons and

Turtle-Doves, Spotted Cuckoos, and Magpies in swarms. The cavernous

trunks are occupied by colonies of Jackdaws, less hoary-naped than ours,

the lesser crevices by Hoopoes, Scop's and Little Owls.

Nearly all the brilliantly-plumaged birds which at this season lend a

semi-tropical character to the Spanish avi-fauna, are

spring-migrants--pouring across the straits during the months of March

and April, and retiring to African latitudes in autumn. Here is a brief

record, showing dates of arrival, &c., chiefly from the observations of

one year (1891), but supplemented where necessary by those of previous

springs, with a few incidental notes.

* * * * *

_February 21st._--Many Swallows arrived: in thousands on 23rd--a

complete nuisance while snipe-shooting. On February 28th some were

already beginning to nest.

_February 26th._--A single Hoopoe arrived: numerous by 3rd March. Also

observed a Goshawk.

_February 28th._--A pair of Egyptian Vultures, and many Lesser Kestrels

were seen to-day.

_March 1st._--Great Spotted Cuckoo, and a single Wheat-ear appeared.

Many of the Wigeon and other ducks, and all Golden Plovers are now gone.

Shot four Garganey.

_March 8th._--First Serpent-Eagle (two more on 10th), and many Black

Kites, in _pinales_. The White Wagtails entirely disappeared about this

date. Landrail shot.

_March 10th._--Hundreds of Wood-Pigeons--all gone next day. Shot a pair

of Black Storks (1869).

_March 13th._--Last Woodcock. Not one-fifth of the ducks now remain in

marisma.

_March 19th._--Shot Scop's Owl in garden at Jerez.

_March 20th._--Observed Kentish and Lesser Ring Plovers, and shot Purple

Heron. Flights of Cranes passing north.

_March 24th._--Observed Short-toed Larks, and Spotless Starling;

Black-headed Gulls still here, in full breeding-plumage. Ruff and

Black-tailed Godwits shot to-day.

_March 26th._--Ring-Ouzel (Sierra Bermeja), and in same district, Booted

Eagle on 29th, Woodchat 30th, and Rock-Thrush on April 3rd.

_March 30th_ (1883).--Woodchats: and first Cuckoo heard in garden.

Starlings, Thrushes and Sky-larks have all gone.

_March 31st_ (1872).--Swarms of Bee-eaters, Eared and Russet Wheatears,

and two or three Rollers.

_March 31st_ (1891).--While away in sierra, the following birds have

appeared: Savi's, Spectacled, and Subalpine Warblers (all obtained),

Cirl-Buntings, Swifts.

_April 3rd._--Nightingales in garden. They do not sing for the first few

days. First eggs laid May 7th.

_April 6th._--Montagu's Harrier arrived (the last Hen-Harrier shot on

10th). Demoiselle Crane shot.

_April 8th._--Turtle-Doves in small flights, and many Bee-eaters and

Rollers arrived. Last Snipe shot to-day.

_April 9th._--Pratincoles, Whiskered and Lesser Terns.

_April 10th._--Pair Marbled Ducks, one Nyroca Pochard, and an Egret

shot. Observed White-faced Ducks.

_April 16th._--Glossy Ibis--Zopiton.

_April 20th._--The following have arrived within the last week or ten

days. Great Sedge Warbler, Orphoean and Garden Warblers, Whitethroat,

Ortolan, and Golden Orioles--the latter seen first to-day.

_April 23rd._--Pair Hobbies observed--_pinales_.

_April 25th._--Alpine Swifts passing over.

_April 27th._--Shot Buff-backed Heron, Isla Menor: and found Bittern's

nest with three eggs; also two of the Great Bustard, each with two eggs.

_April 28th._--Night-Herons observed--marisma Gallega.

_April 29th._--Rufous Warblers (_Ædon galactodes_) arrived in hundreds.

On same date Honey-Buzzards passing northwards, flying quite low against

a north-easterly gale, in large bands. A friend, shooting Turtle-Doves

in the _pinales_ of San Fernando, killed six. These Buzzards pass yearly

in hundreds (both adults and immature), on one or two days at this

period, but usually fly very high.

_April 30th._--Shot the first Russet-necked Nightjar and observed

Melodious Willow-Warblers (_Hypolais polyglotta_). Enormous passage of

Swallows to-day. This is also the date when the Little Bittern and

Squacco Heron are due.

_May 3rd._--Black Terns appeared. The only other nesting species yet to

arrive are the Spotted Flycatcher, Pallid Warbler (_Hypolais opaca_),

and the remainder of the Nightjars, Rufous Warblers, &c.

_May 4th._--Camp in mid-marisma. All this night, commencing about 10

P.M., a stream of migrating birds kept passing overhead. From the dark

sky resounded for hours the cries of gulls and terns, sundry small

land-birds, whimbrels, plovers and sandpipers of various species:

besides harsher shrieks and notes that resembled those of hawks and

herons of some kind.

Amidst such wealth of bird-life lies work for many spring-visits. The

nesting-season, moreover (the most interesting period to the

ornithologist), extends over a greater period of time than is the case

at home. In Spain, with its early spring and warm equable climate, it

might be supposed that most birds would nest both early and more or less

simultaneously. But this is not the case. The period of reproduction,

with birds, appears to be prolonged proportionately as one approaches

the equator. In the far north, where summer is short and sharply

defined, this period is the same. Thus in the arctic lands of

Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, it is limited to six weeks, and in

Lapland and Siberia to two months or so, extending in Central Europe,

roughly speaking, to three. In Andalucia domestic duties last, with one

species or another, over half the year. There are cases in which

nidification commences before Christmas--as with the Lammergeyer,

Bonelli's Eagle, and the Eagle-Owl: the Griffon Vultures and some others

are only a little later. Whereas, on the other hand, some of the herons

do not nest till June: _Ædon galactodes_ and the Little Bustard are

still incubating in July, and the Flamingoes breed so late that their

young can hardly be on the wing before the latter month.

Among the earlier breeders is the Spanish Green Woodpecker, which drills

deep holes in the hard wood of cork-oak or olive, and lays six shining

white eggs in March. Now (April) they had young, but rear a second brood

in May. Though they are so abundant, yet the "tapping" sound

characteristic of the Woodpeckers is not heard in the Spanish forests,

for their food consists of ants and of the small, red and black beetles

that cluster in every crevice of the rough cork-bark.

The Rollers were also laying in mid-April--here in hollow trees,

elsewhere in crevices of rocks or ruins: but wherever their treasure may

be, the silly birds are sure to disclose its position by their incessant

"caterwauling," and anxious, tumbling flight. On the 17th April we found

the first nest of the Southern Grey Shrike (_Lanius meridionalis_) in a

high mastic-bush. The nest resembled that of the Missel-Thrush, the five

eggs larger and more darkly marbled than those of the northern _L.

excubitor_. Nests of the Woodchat (_L. rufus_) may be found in almost

every bush from May 10th onward, and the Bee-eaters have then formed

swarming colonies in the river-banks like Sand-Martins.

As remarkable a freak as any in nature is the system of reproduction by

proxy adopted by the Great Spotted Cuckoo (_Coccystes glandarius_). This

smart and handsome bird, though more abundant in Estremadura and the

Castiles, is fairly numerous on the wooded prairies of Andalucia, where

its curious nesting habits may be observed with ease. The parasitic

habits of the European _Cuculidæ_ are well known--none of these birds

building a nest or rearing their own young. Our British Cuckoo deposits

its eggs singly in the nests of hedge-sparrow, warbler, wagtail, or

other small bird--it is not particular which. The Spotted Cuckoo,

however, does not impose this duty of rearing her young upon her

neighbours generally, but almost exclusively upon the common Magpie:

though exceptionally upon the Azure-winged species (_Cyanopica cookii_)

and the Raven as well. At the Encinar del Visco, during the past year

(1891), the writer found two of the Cuckoo's eggs in a nest of that

bird, along with three eggs (one broken) of the owner.[54]

The Spotted Cuckoo, moreover, lays eggs so exactly resembling those of

the selected foster-mother (the Magpie) as to be hardly distinguishable.

On close examination, it is true, they do differ in their more ellipitic

form and granular surface: but, unless previously aware and specially on

the look-out, no one, probably, would suspect they were not Magpie's

eggs--apparently not even that cute bird itself does so. Even so

experienced an ornithologist as Canon Tristram failed to discriminate

the difference--this was in Algeria--till the zygo-dactylic foot of the

embryos betrayed the secret (_Ibis_, 1859).

The Spotted Cuckoo deposits two, three, and even four eggs in the _same_

Magpie's nest--sometimes leaving the original owner's eggs undisturbed,

in other cases removing all or part of them: we have noticed spilt yolk

and the shells of broken eggs at the entrance to the nest and on the

branches below. Hatched thus, in the domed and enclosed nests of the

Magpie, it seems difficult for the young Spotted Cuckoos to eject their

pseudo-brothers and sisters; but we cannot speak definitely as to this

detail in the early life-history of these curious usurpers of hearth and

home.

The only egg of the Common Cuckoo we have ever found in Spain was in a

nest of the Stonechat. This was on April 23rd, and there were four eggs

of the Stonechat. The Cuckoo is common in Spain on passage, arriving

early in April; a few remain to breed, and we have heard their note up

to the end of May, but the majority pass on northwards at once.

The Azure-winged Magpie, above referred to, is very local in the south.

It nests not far from Jerez, and in some numbers near Coria del Rio, but

is much more abundant in the wooded _vegas_ of Cordova, and still more

so in Estremadura and Castile, actually swarming near Talavera de la

Reyna, at Aranjuez, etc. Their nests, placed on bushes rather than

trees, resemble a Jay's, slightly built of sticks exteriorly, and

completed with green moss, dry grass, etc., and contain five or six

eggs. Half-a-dozen nests may often be found within a hundred yards. An

active, sprightly bird, exclusively confined to the Spanish Peninsula.

[Illustration: AZURE-WINGED MAGPIES.]

The Jay, though common in the mountain-forests, and in Portugal, is not

seen on the South-Spanish plains; but the Magpie absolutely swarms.

During lunch one day I counted upwards of seventy in sight at a time,

and from one spot. A rushy glade before us was dotted all over with

them; their pied breasts surmounted nearly every bush. Further away, I

also counted during the half-hour's halt (without including such small

fry as Kestrels, etc.) no less than twenty-one large birds of

prey--several Kites of both kinds, a soaring Buzzard or two, Marsh-and

Montagu's Harriers, and at least a pair of eagles.

Such a spectacle would probably break the heart of an orthodox British

gamekeeper; to preserve any fair head of game in presence of such an

array of "vermin"--both powerful raptores and cunning egg-thieves--he

would certainly assert to be impossible. So, in England, it probably

would be; yet here our game-books record bags varying from 150 to 300

partridge, besides other game, in a day, and totals of from 1,000 to

1,200 head and upwards in a fortnight's shooting. Yet those who advocate

the _status quo_ in nature and condemn dogmatically any interference

therewith by the hand of man, would be wrong in jumping to the

conclusion that the co-existence in Spain of a considerable head of game

with a host of their most powerful enemies, is any solid substantiation

of their theories, in a _general_ sense.

To this question of nature's balance of life we may devote a little

space; it is seldom so simple as at first sight may appear. Here in

Spain its solution depends on factors some of which do not exist and

would have, consequently, no bearing at home; but the general features

of the particular case in point may be summed up in three lines: (1)

Spain is a land teeming with reptile-life; (2) The reptiles in the

aggregate are the most deadly enemies to game; and (3) it is upon

reptiles that the raptorial birds habitually prey.

The large eagles, it is true, prefer rabbits and partridges to anything

else; but the "catch" of their smaller relatives, the Booted and

Serpent-Eagles, the Kites, Buzzards and Hawks, is composed chiefly of

reptiles--lizards, snakes, blindworms, salamanders, and the like--as

well as the larger insects, such as locusts, cicadas, scorpions,

grasshoppers, the huge horned scarabæi and other coleoptera of which so

great a variety abound in Southern Spain. At the end of this chapter we

annex a brief analysis, the result of a number of post-mortem

examinations of the crops and stomachs of various raptorial birds, which

shows pretty conclusively that while game, etc., is included in their

_menu_, by far the greater portion of their attack is directed against

the reptile race--itself the most pernicious to game and all the

defenceless creation. It is, in fact, a warfare of raptor _versus_

raptorem, of feathered freebooter against scaled marauder, and the

harmless and peaceful balance of creation benefit by that internecine

state of war.

[Illustration: EYED-LIZARD AND SERPENT-EAGLE]

The destruction that is wrought by the larger reptiles is difficult to

exaggerate; both snakes and lizards are inveterate egg-stealers, and

also devour large quantities of young game, whether furred or feathered,

besides other creatures. Gliding noiselessly, rapidly, and with an

infinite stealth, their approach is imperceptible, whether through

brushwood or scrub, through shallow water or yielding sand, whether

above ground or below--they penetrate the deep burrows of rabbit or

Bee-eater, and scale the loftiest fortresses of tree-nesting species.

Equally at home on the ground or amongst the topmost branches, nothing

can well escape the larger serpents and saurians. Were they not held in

check by nature's counterpoise, hardly a young rabbit could survive, or

a Partridge, Quail, or Wild Duck succeed in rearing their broods.

Neither ground nor tree-nesting birds are safe: we have seen a Cushat's

nest which in the morning had contained its two eggs, occupied towards

evening by the sleeping coils of a green Eyed Lizard (_Lacerta

ocellata_), measuring nearly a yard in length, and thousands of

promising families are yearly called into existence only to provide

sustenance for cold-blooded, scaly saurians.

Here are three or four examples extracted from our note-book:--

"_April 23rd._--While on the sand-ridge overlooking the laguna de

Santolalla, watching a pair of Marbled Ducks, some Crested Grebes, etc.,

heard subterranean scuffling and rumblings. Presently two rabbits

bolted, and from a hole close by emerged the writhing tail of a great

green lizard, backing out, and dragging, by an engulfed hind leg, a

half-grown rabbit, too terrified to squeal. In some rushes we lost sight

of the reptile, but two minutes later, put him out and shot him. The

hapless rabbit was then gorged--head downwards."

"_May 18th._--Dug out a Bee-eater's colony--some of the tunnels quite

eight or ten feet deep. In two of the nests found snakes, coiled up. One

big black fellow entombed the remains of four or five Bee-eaters,

swallowed entire, besides many eggs. The smaller snake contained eggs

and a brace of Field-mice."

"_May 23rd._--Heard two Partridges in a great state of excitement;

coming up, saw a snake in the act of devouring a half-feathered chick.

The brute, which only measured three feet, nine inches, already

contained four young Partridges!"

"_June 9th._--Shot a huge _Coluber_, six feet two inches, greatly

distended in centre. On opening him found two nearly full-grown rabbits,

swallowed whole."

Under such conditions, the presence of the hawk-tribe is an actual

advantage to the game-preserver--they are his under-keepers and

vermin-trappers. No doubt, were it possible, _first_, to put down

effectually the rapacious reptiles, and _then_ to thin the ranks of the

rapacious birds, the result would be a prodigious increase in the

numbers of the game and other defenceless creatures on which they prey.

This--_mutatis mutandis_--is practically what game-preservation has

accomplished in England; but in Spain the physical conditions are

different, and it is more than questionable if any similar measure of

success could there be attained. Not Don Quixote himself ever conceived

an enterprise more chimerical than the extermination of the snakes in La

Mancha or Andalucia.

[Illustration: THE EAGLE'S SWOOP.]

With the first of the daylight the eagles and most of the larger

raptores turn out for their morning hunt, and during the heat of the day

retire to enjoy a siesta on the peak of some lofty oak or pine, where

they remain conspicuously perched for hours together. Towards evening

predatory operations are generally resumed. It is curious to observe

their different methods of going to work; the Kites sweep about with

buoyant, desultory flight, not unlike large gulls; the _Circäetus_

wheels in wide circles over the cistus-scrub; Montagu's Harrier hunts

with impetuous flight, in long, straight bee-lines close over the

_mancha_, always appearing about to alight but not doing so. But for

systematic searching-out of a breadth of land, none compare with the

Imperial Eagle; usually in pairs, these noble tyrants choose a line of

country, and with wide sweeps to right and left, crossing and recrossing

each other at the central point like well-trained setters, they beat

miles of scrub in a few hours, while a Buzzard or Marsh-Harrier will

hover and circle round a single spot and spend half a day over a few

acres of rushes. Nothing can well escape the eagles; shortly one of the

pair detects the hidden game--for an instant his flight is checked to

assure a deadly aim, then with collapsed wings, and a rushing sound

which is distinctly audible a quarter of a mile away, he dashes headlong

to earth. A second or two later, he rises with loud vociferations, and a

hapless rabbit suspended from his yellow claws. Their short, sharp bark

is repeatedly uttered by the eagles while hunting. Rabbits seem to

constitute nine-tenths of their prey, to judge from the golgotha of

these little animals' skulls below their nests.

The Stone-Curlew (_OEdicnemus crepitans_) is another fine species

characteristic of the scrub, where it is resident or at least is found

throughout the year, and their rectilineal footprints are everywhere

visible on the sandy deserts. On these flat plains they are most

difficult of access, and if winged, run like a hare; towards evening

they become very noisy, piping something like a Curlew in spring--on the

night of April 16th, while skinning a lynx by the light of our fire, the

air around seemed full of them, their vociferations resounding from

every side. We found the first nest, or rather a single egg lying on

bare sand, on April 18th. We have come across these birds in widely

different situations; high out on the barren stony mountains of the

Minho, in Northern Portugal, packs of them frequented the few damp spots

along the courses of the old Roman aqueducts--how few such weak spots

were, testifies to the solidity of these ancient works. This was in

November. Their local name there was "Mountain Curlew" (Masarico de

montes). Apropos of these hills, the following rather curious incidents

are perhaps worth recording. Far out among the boulder-strewn ridges,

while Red-leg shooting, we used to find numbers of Green Woodpeckers

miles away from trees--they were attracted thither by the swarms of

ants. Nightjars (_Caprimulgus europæus_) and Little Owls also abode

there; the latter fluttered out from under one's feet, and after a most

un-owlish, up-and-down flight, would dive back under some big boulder,

more like a fish than a bird. Small flights of Teal also resorted to

these heights during the day, sitting among the heather, and returning

to the marshes at night.

* * * * *

FOOD OF SPANISH RAPTORIAL BIRDS--Analyses of examinations of their

crops--as follows:--

(_See_ p. 259.)

KITES examined, 21.

Snakes, Lizards, Blindworms, &c 9 cases.

Locusts, elytra of coleoptera, &c 9 "

Bones and remains of small birds 5 "

Rabbits and young Redlegs (1 each) 2 "

Egg-shells 0 "

Note.--We have shot Black Kites fairly crammed with

Locusts.

HARRIERS examined, 17.

Frogs, Snakes and other reptiles 8 cases.

Egg-shells 7 "

Scorpions, coleoptera and other insects 3 "

Game (1 Quail, 1 young and 1 putrid rabbit) 3 "

The Marsh-Harrier in spring seeks frogs, eggs, and young

birds; in winter, frogs, wounded birds, and chance reptiles.

Montagu's Harrier takes chiefly the lesser reptiles and eggs--occasionally

rabbits--and departs entirely in winter.

LARGE EAGLES examined, 8.

Rabbits, Partridge, &c. 8 cases.

Reptiles, eggs, or insects 0 "

SMALL EAGLES examined, 10.

Rabbits and other game 4 cases.

Reptiles (no eggs or insects) 4 "

Small birds 3 "

Sundries (1 young eagle! _See_ p. 215) 1 "

The large eagles prey on game all the year round; the smaller species

chiefly on reptiles and small birds, secondarily on game. In winter the

latter depart to Africa.

FALCONS.--The smaller species are chiefly insectivorous--the Lesser

Kestrel and Eleanora Falcon exclusively so. The Common Kestrel and Hobby

also take small lizards and snakes. From the crop of one of the large

and powerful Falcons (_Falco punicus_) which, when shot, was in the act

of pursuing a Hare, we have taken nearly a score of Blindworms.

It is corroborative of the predominance of reptiles and insects in their

diet, that so many of the raptores leave Spain almost entirely in

winter. Both the Booted and Serpent-Eagles, Black Kite, Montagu's

Harrier, Lesser Kestrel, and others, migrate at that season to Africa.

[Illustration: BLACK STORK.]

CHAPTER XXII.

BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME.

III.--BY LAKE AND LAGOON.

Spain is not a land of lakes; the so-called lagoons are often mere

accumulations of flood-water, the result of the winter's rains which

occupy shallow basins, or swamp the low-lying lands. Many of these

hybernal lagoons dry up entirely as the hot weather sets in; others

remain in greatly reduced proportions, hidden, as a rule, amidst reeds

and dense aquatic herbage.

Few Spanish lakes cover any considerable area, though the Lagunas de

Janda, near Trafalgar, those of Fuentepiedra near Malaga, and the

Albufera of Valencia, are exceptions.

The Laguna de Janda, an inland sea of yellow muddy water, surrounded by

belts of sedge and cane-brake stretching away for miles, is a well-known

wildfowl resort, abounding in winter with Grey Geese, ducks, and divers

of many kinds, besides Snipe, Rails, Bitterns, and aquatic birds in all

their varieties. The dry plateaux on the north are a notable resort of

Little Bustard; and large bags of Quail and Golden Plover are there, at

times, secured. But this is well-known ground, and having been described

by others, we will only add that in spring Janda is noteworthy as one of

the breeding-stations of the Crane (_Grus communis_), which still nests

in some numbers amidst the vast area of reed-beds and thick swamp that

lie towards Casa Vieja.

The nests of the Crane are huge accumulations of flags and aquatic

plants built up in the shallow marsh, and hidden amidst the growing

reeds, which in spring completely conceal the water. The Crane lays two

handsome eggs, greenish in hue, but suffused with brown splashes and

obsolete shades, about the end of April. Formerly the Crane used also to

breed in the marismas of the Guadalquivir, but we have not met with it

there of recent years, and fear it is already banished for ever from

that resort. It may sincerely be hoped that these majestic waterfowl,

whose stately appearance and resonant trumpet-note lend so peculiar a

charm to the wild solitudes they frequent, may meet with more

considerate treatment in their last stronghold at Janda.

Of the Mar Menor of Cartagena, the Albufera of Valencia, and other

noteworthy wildfowl resorts lying outside our limits, we can speak with

less certainty, not having had such opportunities of exploration as in

the districts to the S. and W. The Albufera appears to be the western

limit of the range of the handsome Red-crested Pochard (_Fuligula

rufina_), a duck we have sought in vain in Andalucia; but with this

exception, and that of a few stragglers, such as _Hydrochelidon

leucoptera_ and other species of more Eastern distribution, the spring

avifauna of these localities does not materially differ from that of the

more western marismas and lagoons described either in the present

chapter or in those entitled "The Bætican Wilderness."

The lakes of Doñana are of no great extent, the largest being the

Lagunas de Santolalla, and the broad, reed-choked Rocina de la Madre

extending towards Rocio, all of which we have explored at different

seasons.

Riding towards the small lagoon of Zopiton on April 16th, its surface

was seen to be dotted all over with waterfowl--ducks and divers, coots

and grebes. Zopiton is a deep, reed-fringed pool where we have often

looked in vain for _Fuligula rufina_. On our approach, several Mallards

and Gadwall flew up: I shot a Gadwall drake from horseback, whereupon

there was commotion among the denizens of that sequestered lagoon--ducks

rose splashing and quacking on all sides, coots "skittered" across the

surface, grebes vanished amidst sedges, whence a Marsh-Harrier soared

from her nest. Among the ducks which whistled around and overhead were

many of a small dark species unknown to us. These appeared loth to

leave, and after the others had disappeared, continued circling round,

high in the air, with rapid rustling flight like that of a Golden-eye.

By creeping out to a rush-clad point we lay concealed between sedges and

a thicket of briar, and here soon shot several of these ducks, as well

as Mallard, Garganey, and another Gadwall or two. The unknown birds

proved to be the White-eyed Pochard, or Ferruginous Duck (_Fuligula

nyroca_) which evidently intended to breed here, though a search for

their nests proved futile. A month later, however (in May), we obtained

nests both of this Pochard and of the Gadwall, both built among rushes

on dry ground. The Gadwall--inappropriately termed in Spanish "_Silbon

real_" (_i.e._ king-wigeon, or whistler)--is a very silent duck, and

always seen in pairs. In May we found them singly, those shot then being

all drakes rising from small sedgy pools.

The Garganey are fairly numerous on these lagoons in spring; yet

though--especially in wet seasons--they certainly breed there, we have

never discovered a nest. The marshmen (who know the different kinds of

duck as well as most people) assert positively that in _very wet_

springs a few pairs of the Common Teal also remain to breed.

[Illustration: Plate XXXII.

MALLARDS AND FERRUGINOUS DUCKS--ALAMILLO.

Page 268.]

Among the tall _juncales_, or reed-beds, in mid-water, abode numerous

aquatic warblers--notably the Great Sedge-Warbler, Cetti's, and the

Reed-Warbler, the loud grating song of the former is incessant: but

owing to the depth of water and mud, and the maze of rank weeds, such

spots are difficult to explore. The Melodious Warbler (_Hypolais

polyglotta_) nests on bushes and sallows on the drier ground: while the

little Fantails (_Cisticola_) build their pretty purse-shaped nests on

the shorter rushes along the margin. A peculiarity of this tiny bird is

that it lays eggs of wholly different colours--though not in the same

nest--some clutches being pale green, some blue, others of a soft

rose-colour, a few pure white. The elaborate way in which the nest

itself is compacted of intertwined grasses and laced on to a tuft of

rush is no less remarkable. Its Spanish name is _Bolsicon_--a little

purse, and the species remains all the winter. Among the tall _carices_,

floating in about three feet of water, was the nest of the

Marsh-Harrier: it resembled that of a Coot, and had, perhaps, been built

originally by that bird, many of which bred there.

While driving the ducks, five birds of peculiar appearance flew

over--they were Glossy Ibis, and passed within shot of Felipe, who,

however, failed to stop them. This was the only instance of our meeting

with the Ibis--a singular circumstance, as in wet seasons they nest in

numbers in the upper marisma. Their deep blue eggs have several times

been brought to us while bustard-shooting on the Isla Menor, &c., the

boys who brought them saying the nests were in the thick _cañas_, and

not on low trees, where the small herons breed. Very curiously, in all

the time we spent in the marisma, we never again saw this bird in

spring, or found a single nest ourselves.

A ride of a few miles from Zopiton across the sandy heath-land brings us

to the larger lagunas de Santolalla, where numerous wildfowl assemble in

spring. Besides Mallards, Gadwalls, and Ferruginous Ducks, already

described, were many Pintails, Garganeys, Teal, and the pretty Marbled

Duck--(_Querquedula marmorata_). The latter nests at Santolalla at the

end of May: but more numerously in the open marisma, laying ten or

twelve eggs, well hidden among the clumps of samphire. Some of the

Pintails (which are the most abundant of the winter wildfowl) linger

late in spring: for on May 8th we observed a "bunch" of a dozen or so at

Santolalla, all drakes, their snow-white throats glistening in the

sunshine. Near them a pair of Shoveller drakes were swimming, and

presently the binocular rested on six of the most extraordinary wildfowl

we ever met with--gambolling and splashing about on the water, chasing

each other, now above now beneath its surface like a school of

porpoises, they appeared half birds, half water-tortoises, with which

the lagoon abounds. We were well sheltered by a fringe of sedges, and

presently the strangers entered a small reed-margined bight, swimming

very deep, only their turtle-shaped backs and heavy heads in sight. Here

we crept down on them, and as they sat, splashing and preening in the

shallow water, stopped three--two dead, the third escaping, winged. They

proved to be a duck and drake of the White-fronted Duck--_Erismatura

mersa_--heavily built diving-ducks, round in the back, broad and flat in

the chest, with small wings like a Grebe, and long, stiff tails like a

Cormorant--the latter, being carried underwater as a rudder, is not

visible when the bird is swimming. The enormously swollen bill of the

drake--pale waxen blue in colour--completed as singular a picture of a

feathered fowl as the writer ever came across: they were in fact no less

remarkable in form and colour, now we had them in hand, than they had at

first appeared in the water. The head and neck of the drake were jet

black, with white face and cheeks: otherwise their whole plumage was

dark ferruginous (not white below, as represented in "Bree") and with a

silky, grebe-like sheen.

These singular ducks, we found, were well known to the _guardas_ as

"patos porrones" (porron--a knob), and subsequently found several pairs

at the Laguna de Medina, a lake near Jerez, where, on the 23rd May, they

were evidently breeding. The lake was also occupied "by numbers of the

Great Crested Grebe (_Podicipes cristatus_), quaint-looking birds in

their full summer-dress. The nests of the Little Grebe may be found

floating in every rushy pool.

[Illustration: Plate XXXIII.

WHITE-FRONTED DUCK (ERISMATURA MERSA)--Santolalla, May 8th, 1883.

Page 270.]

The width of the lagoon would barely exceed half-a-mile; its shores all

furrowed by wild boar in their search for _grillos_, or mole-crickets,

and dotted with the skeletons of water-tortoises, and beyond its

glancing waters rolled stretches of grey scrub and heath, backed in the

distance by sand-dunes and corrales, the outliers of the desolate

_arenales_ that extend to the sea-coast. Beneath a straggling belt of

pines there were sheltering from the mid-day heat a group of

wild-bred cattle; and a little apart stood three or four big bulls of

the fighting breed:--formidable beasts that demand a wide berth. More

shaggy cattle, knee-deep in water, were dreamily ruminating, each form

surmounted by a white bird, the Buff-backed Heron--in Spanish

_Agarrapatosa_ or tick-eater--some apparently asleep, others busily

searching for prey. Nearer still, among the islanded patches of sedge

and carices, stalked a pair of Little Egrets, their long, thin necks

arched with infinite grace, and heads poised to strike with deadly

precision any darting larvæ or water-beetle they detect among the

floating weeds.

The heron-tribe is strongly represented in Andalucia; in spring and

summer almost every European form adorns these remote and marshy

regions. During May the Buff-backed Herons were flying all over the

plains in packs of a score to fifty or more, apparently in quest of a

settlement; the pretty little Squacco Herons had then shifted their

quarters from the marisma to the rushy lagoons, and many nests were

ready for eggs in the _juncales_; but all this group breed late, none

laying much before June.

Since we first visited these regions, now nearly twenty years ago, a sad

diminution has taken place in the numbers of these beautiful Herons and

Egrets, due in great measure to the cruel and thoughtless fashion of

wearing their plumes in ladies' hats. Let ladies humanely remember that

these plumes are only attained in the _nesting_ season, when to kill the

male means the sacrifice of a whole family. Fortunately there remain

sequestered nooks, sacred as yet to wild nature. Both in the

neighbourhood of Almonte and in certain marshy regions of vast

cane-brake and wooded swamp on the Estremenian border, there survive

unknown and unmolested colonies of these graceful creatures, where for

many a year to come the Egrets, Buff-backed and Squacco Herons, the

Night-Heron and Little Bittern, Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis and other "rare

birds" may yet find a sanctuary protected by natural fastnesses, and by

legions of leeches and mosquitoes that render human life well nigh

intolerable. The very toads are there as big as small footstools; the

natives yellow and sunken-eyed, with hollow cheeks and parchment skin.

[Illustration: BUFF-BACKED HERON.]

Here, when summer-heats provoke miasma and fetid airs, languor-laden,

from the morass, the herons congregate. In June their slight nests crowd

the sallow-brakes and clumps of gnarled alders and aspens islanded in

marsh, and barricaded with bramble and vicious thorny _zarzas_. Amidst

umbrageous gloom the Night-Heron and Bittern dream away the hours of

daylight, the former among the branches, the latter in thickest sedge.

The Bittern lays its pheasant-like eggs in April, often in March; the

Little Bittern not till June. It is difficult to fix a date for the

rest--so uncertain are they, and so dependent on the seasons and the

quantity of water in the marismas. We have eggs of the Night-Heron taken

as early as May 20th--another year none were laid till June 8th. From

this latter date onwards is perhaps the average time for eggs of that

species, as well as those of the Egret, Buff-back, and Squacco Herons,

and the Little Bittern.

So retiring are the nocturnal species that it is difficult to flush them

without a dog; yet they cannot compare, in this respect, with their

neighbours, the Crakes and Rails, which also abound in the Spanish

morass--the Water-Rail and Spotted Crake most numerous, Baillon's Crake

rather less so, and the Little Crake the scarcest. All these are pointed

and 'roded' keenly by native dogs, but their skulking powers are a match

for the staunchest. _Mataperros_--"kill-dogs"--is their Spanish

nickname, their thin, curiously compressed bodies resembling in section

that of one's hand held vertically, enabling them to glide like rats

through the thickest growth of flags and aquatic herbage.

The nests of all the Rails are hard to find; but to identify the precise

owner of each is a thousand-fold harder. Nests and eggs of all being

closely alike, an _unidentified_ clutch is worthless; but the man who

can work this out knee-deep amidst mud and stagnant water, under a

broiling sun, has patience that nothing can withstand, nor any obstacle

resist.

During May a clamorous element is added to the bird-life of these

lagoons by the nesting-colonies of Terns, which hover round the

intruder, filling the air with their harsh vociferations. Santolalla is

a stronghold of the Whiskered and Black Terns (_H. hybrida_ and _H.

fissipes_) whose nests are built on the water-lilies and floating

water-weeds. There are other large colonies in the open marisma, where

the Gull-billed and the Lesser Terns also nest, the former in some

numbers.

[Illustration: MARSH HARRIER--VERY OLD MALE.]

June in Spain is a month of intense heat--heat of that fiery high-dried

sort that scorches as an open furnace. In June, as a Spanish proverb

says--"Nothing but a dog or an Englishman" ventures out of doors; nor

from an ornithological point of view is there much inducement to do so.

The teeming variety of bird-life which characterizes April and May is

now conspicuously absent. Migration is suspended, and there is no

movement of passage-birds. There is no longer the accustomed number of

large hawks hunting the _campiña_, and even those birds which remain

seem to keep out of sight, sheltering from the blazing heat.

Perhaps the most interesting birds at this season are the newly-fledged

young of the Raptores. The young Imperial Eagles are of a beautiful

tawny colour, and during the mid-day heat frequent the trees where they

were hatched. We also obtained young Kites in the same way--very

handsome birds, much ruddier than the old ones in April. The young of

_M. migrans_, on the other hand, are less pleasing than their parents,

being, in fact, a pale, rather "washed-out" reproduction of them.

Towards the end of the month (June) the young Montagu's Harriers are on

the wing; they have dark brown backs, each feather edged with chestnut,

a white nape, and orange-tawny breast. Many of the young of the

Marsh-Harrier are uniformly very dark, bronze-black, with rich orange

crowns--strikingly handsome birds. Some have also patches of the latter

colour on the scapulars, others on the breast--they vary greatly, no two

are alike. This species is not easy to understand; one imagines that

these very dark specimens are all young birds; that the old females are

lighter brown with yellow heads, and that the very old males acquire

half-blue wings and tail--I shot one of these latter with the whole head

pure white, each feather streaked centrally with black. (_See_ photo at

p. 242.) But how is one to account for an individual--otherwise

uniformly black--having a perfectly developed blue tail and secondaries?

During June we were surprised to find the Green Sandpiper tolerably

numerous in the Coto Doñana. It was a very solitary species, a single

bird frequenting almost each small pool or water-hole far out among the

scrub. We at first imagined the females must be sitting, but all

attempts to find the nests were of course futile. The Wood-Sandpiper was

observed, on passage, in May.

As the long summer day draws to its close, the infinite variety of

nocturnal sounds which, during the short twilight, suddenly awake into

being, strikes strangely on a northern ear. During the gloaming the air

has been alive with the darting forms of bats, terns, and pratincoles,

of swifts and swallows, all busily hawking after insects or slow-flying

beetles. But before dark these disappear. Of crepuscular birds, the

first to commence the nocturnal concert is the Russet-necked Nightjar,

which abounds all over the scrub; a few minutes later, from the

cork-trees, resounds the note of the Little Owl, then the sharp ringing

_ki-y[=o][=u]_ of Scop's Owl--both in sight, flickering against the

darkening sky; while far and near among the grass the loud rattle of the

mole-cricket starts like an alarum and from every pool the united croaks

of literally millions of frogs form, as it were, a background of sound

resembling the distant roar of a mighty city.

[Illustration: SUMMER EVENING--OWLS AND MOTHS.]

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE SPANISH GYPSY.

NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE "GITANOS."

The mysterious Rommany race which overruns every nation in Europe, but

intermingles with none, has always abounded in Spain, and particularly

in Andalucia, a land which is peculiarly favourable to the Ishmaelitish

propensities of these human pariahs--as congenial to predatory wild men

as to the wild beasts we elsewhere describe. Thoroughly typical objects

both on the byeways and deserts of Spain, and of the animated scenes at

her rural feasts and fairs, to which the gypsies flock like vultures to

a carcase, it would be inappropriate here to omit all mention of this

singular race, even though it may be impossible for us to add anything

new to the exhaustive description of the Spanish gypsy narrated by

Borrow in "The Zincali," a work based on intimate acquaintance with the

gitanos and their language. To it we are indebted for much historic and

ethnological information respecting the gypsy race, and take the liberty

of quoting two or three passages from its pages.[55]

First appearing on Spanish soil during the early decades of the

fifteenth century, after being driven from land to land, the Zingari

outcasts speedily found a congenial home--if such a term is applicable

to nomadic vagabonds--amidst the lone and sparsely-peopled regions of

Iberia.

Whence they had originally come--whether from Egypt, as they themselves

averred and as their Spanish name imports, or from India, as the term

Zincali indicates--it is not our intention to inquire.[56] Suffice it

that nearly five centuries ago, this invasion of tinkers, horse-thieves,

sorcerers, and all-round rogues poured into Europe, and during the long

period that has since elapsed have maintained themselves there--not, it

is true, in luxury, rather in rags and apparent poverty--by means of

robbery and deceit, at the expense of the various peoples upon whom, as

a swarm of wasps or locusts, they have thought good to descend. All this

time, too, they have maintained intact both their racial individuality,

their peculiar language, and their inveterate habits of lying and

thieving.

"Who are these gitanos?" querulously asks the learned Lorenzo Palminero

more than three hundred years ago ("El Estudioso Cortesano," Alcalá,

1587). "Who are these Gitanos? I answer: these vile people first began

to show themselves in Germany in the year 1417, where they call them

Tartars, or Gentiles; in Italy they are termed Ciani. [In Spain the

Arabs (Moors) knew the gypsies by only one name, _charami_ = thieves.]

They pretend that they come from Lower Egypt, and that they wander about

as a penance, and to prove this they show letters from the King of

Poland. They lie, however, for they do not lead the lives of penitents,

but of dogs and thieves. A learned person [himself] in the year 1540

prevailed upon them, by dint of much persuasion, to show him the King's

letter, and from it he gathered that the time of penance had already

expired. He spoke to them in the Egyptian tongue. They said, however, as

it was a long time since their departure from Egypt, they could no

longer understand it. He then spoke to them in the vulgar Greek, such as

is used at present in the Morea and Archipelago. Some understood it,

others did not, so that as all did not understand it, we may conclude

that the language they use is a feigned one, got up by thieves for the

purpose of concealing their robberies, like the jargon of blind

beggars."

From their earliest appearance in Spain the roving bands of the Rommany

were found to be a public nuisance; but so rapidly grew the evil weed

and took root in the soil, that by the middle of the fifteenth century

the gypsies had established a rudely-organized system of violence,

robbery and roguery from Biscay to the Mediterranean. The country roads

were unsafe, infested with dark-skinned highwaymen; while rural

districts were subjected to wholesale depredation, bands of these

outcasts settling themselves in the adjacent hills, wastes, or forests,

whence they plundered and virtually beleaguered the sparse and

defenceless villages of all the country around. Once established amidst

the sierras and wildernesses, it was no easy matter to dislodge them, or

even to hold them in check. Spain has ever been a land of the

_guerilla_--little war--and of the _guerillero_; and the gypsies, though

by no means a warlike race, were not lacking in courage and in those

qualities of hardihood and dash which constitute the most dangerous

_guerilleros_. They possessed, moreover, the strength of union, an

Ishmaelitish bond of brotherhood which held the outlaws together, while

dividing them as by a great gulf from the peoples amidst whom they had

come to dwell. They had also their secret language. Neither civil nor

military power could make itself effective against "Will-o'-the-wisps,"

who are here to-day, gone to-morrow, whose homes were the forest-thicket

and mountain-cave, who, with their fast and trusty horses and donkeys

(their "stock-in-trade") could transport their whole tribe in dead of

night to distant places with a speed almost equal to that of the wild

beasts of the sierras, to whom they were so near akin.

The nominal employment of the gypsies was that of tinkers, workers in

iron, and horse-traffickers: under which guise they really subsisted by

cattle-lifting and horse-stealing, either by force, or fraud, according

as circumstances might suggest. The female gypsies, or gitanas, more

than doubled the ill-gotten gains of their husbands by the arts of

sorcery and divination, by selling charms and love-philtres, stealing by

legerdemain, and exercising the various branches of what are termed the

"occult sciences"--in other words, practising upon the silly credulity

of the weaker portion of humanity--as well as by other and more

loathsome avocations. The credulity of their victims appears incredible,

though it is hardly less marvellous than the tact and effrontery

displayed by the gypsy women in their cozening and charlatan tricks.

Their knowledge of human nature and how to reach its weak points, was

remarkable in a race so low, so degraded, and wholly illiterate. They

possessed the cunning and boldness of the wild beast, and combined with

it a hatred of the "Busné," or Gentile, which the wild beast has not.

The bitterness of hatred which was cherished by the gitanos towards all

of gentile race, appears incomprehensible, unless it springs from some

old-time "first cause," the nature of which is long forgotten.

Treacherous, cruel and vindictive, they had the wit to conceal their

ill-will beneath soft words, and thus obtained means of committing

atrocities against the "gentile," the records of which make one shudder.

Amongst the various devices employed by the gitanos to plunder their

victims, may be mentioned the following:--

_Hokkano Baro._--The great trick, or swindle, varying from the

"confidence trick" in its multifarious forms, up to the boldest and most

barefaced deceptions, often on a grand scale.

_La Baji_, or, in Spanish, _buena ventura_.--Fortune-telling, by

chiromancy, necromancy, and other divinations.

_Ustilar Pastelas._--Stealing by legerdemain or sleight of hand.

_Querelar Nasela._--The evil eye.

_Drao_ = poison.--Both these latter devices were employed to produce

epidemics among men or flocks, when the reputed medical or veterinary

skill of the gitanos was called into requisition; and, being aware of

the origin of the disease, they seldom failed to effect its cure.

The gitanos were, and are divided into two classes: one section have

more or less settled colonies in the Spanish towns and cities, where

they dwell in quarters apart from the natives, known as _gitanerias_,

wherein they ply their trade of tinkers, horse-dealers and shearers,

sorcerers, and general thieves; and from whence, in pursuance of their

inveterate vagabondism, they sally forth from time to time to attend

distant fairs and markets to dispose of their stolen goods; and, as

occasion arises, to perpetrate fresh crimes. The other section is more

exclusively nomadic, roaming at large over the wilds of Spain, having no

home save the shelter of forest or sierra, and to some extent actually

migratory.

The daily life of the Spanish gypsy has always been characterized by a

squalor and degradation exceeding that of the residuum of any European

nation. They appear to have been devoid of the faintest conception of

religion beyond that undefined sense of superstition which is common to

savage races all over the world, or to possess any sense of morality,

decency, or self-respect. Their food was of the foulest--they shrank not

from carrion, and have been accused, apparently not without reason, of

cannibalism, for which in early days many a gitano swung from the

gibbet. Male and female alike, they were adepts at devilry and crime of

every degree, yet amidst such a category of evil, they still possessed

the one singular virtue of esteeming purity in their women. We quote the

following picture of life in a gitaneria from Borrow ("Zincali," i., p.

76 _et seq._):--"The gitanerias at even-fall were frequently resorted to

by individuals widely differing in station from the inmates of these

places--we allude to the young and dissolute nobility and hidalgos of

Spain. The gypsy women and girls were the principal attraction to these

visitors. Wild and singular as these females are in their appearance,

there can be no doubt, for the fact has been frequently proved, that

they are capable of exciting passions of the most ardent kind,

particularly in the bosoms of those who are not of their race, which

passion of course becomes the more violent when the almost utter

impossibility of gratifying it is known. No females in the world can be

more licentious in word or gesture, in dance and song, than the gitanas,

but there they stop; and so of old, if their titled visitors presumed to

seek for more, an unsheathed dagger or gleaming knife speedily repulsed

those who expected that the gift most dear among the sect of the Roma

was within the reach of a Busné.

"Such visitors, however, were always encouraged to a certain point, and

by this and various other means the gitanos acquired connections which

frequently stood them in good stead in the hour of need. What availed it

to the honest labourers of the neighbourhood, or the citizens of the

town to make complaints to the _Corregidor_ respecting thefts and frauds

committed by the gitanos when perhaps the sons of that very Corregidor

frequented the nightly dances at the gitanería, and were deeply

enamoured of some of the dark-eyed singing girls? What availed

complaints when perhaps a gypsy sybil, the mother of those very girls,

had free admission to the house of the Corregidor at all times and

seasons, and spa'ed the _buena ventura_ of his daughters, promising them

counts and dukes, or Andalucian knights in marriage, or prepared

philtres for his lady by which she was always to reign supreme in the

affections of her husband? And above all, what availed it to the

plundered to complain that his mule or horse had been stolen when the

gitano robber, perhaps the husband of the sybil and the father of the

black-eyed Gitanillas, was at that moment actually in treaty with my

lord the Corregidor himself, to supply him with some splendid,

thick-maned, long-tailed steed at a small price, to be obtained, as the

reader may well suppose, by an infraction of the laws? The favour and

protection which the gitanos experienced from persons of high rank is

alluded to in the Spanish laws, and can only be accounted for by the

motives above detailed."

By the middle of the fifteenth century the bands of the Rommany had

become a serious danger in rural Spain, and their ability to act

daringly in concert was demonstrated by their attempt to massacre the

whole populace and sack the town of Logroño. That town at the moment was

stricken down by a pestilence, which it was more than suspected had been

caused by the Zincales themselves having poisoned with their _drao_ the

springs whence Logroño was supplied with water. Already, before the

gypsy assault, the greater part of the populace had perished of the

disease, and the annihilation of the survivors was only averted by the

singular foresight and energy of one man--Francisco Alvarez. This

Alvarez in his early life was said to have been admitted to the

community of a gitano tribe, to have married a daughter of its chief,

and eventually to have become the chief himself. Around the details of

the affair hangs some uncertainty; but the historic fact that the

gitanos actually attempted the massacre and plunder of a considerable

Spanish town has been well attested, among others by Francisco de

Córdova on his "Didascalia" (Lugduni, 1615).

The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the evil still on the

increase, despite repressive measures. Bands of these human fiends, many

hundreds strong, roamed over the highlands of Castile and Arragon, and

were only dispersed, after plundering and devastating the country, when

sufficient military force had at length been collected. The gypsies

speedily searched out the richest provinces of the land--New Castile, La

Mancha, Estremadura, Murcia, Valencia and Andalucia, and troubled but

little the poor, wild, mountain-regions of the Asturias, Galicia, and

the hill-country of Biscay.

The impunity with which these people set at nought during hundreds of

years the successive laws which were enacted for their repression, is a

curious point in connection with their history. As early as 1499,

Ferdinand and Isabella, at Medina del Campo, interdicted, under heavy

penalties, their vagrant propensities; ordered them to find fixed

occupations, and to settle in the different towns and villages within a

short specified period. In default they were to be expelled from

Spanish soil. This act was confirmed and supplemented with more vigorous

penalties by Charles I. at Toledo in 1539, and again by Philip II. in

1586, at Madrid.

By an enactment of Philip IV. at Madrid, 1633, the former laws were

confirmed, but in order still further to penalize the profession and

race of gypsies, their dress, their language, and even the name of

_gitanos_, were declared illegal, and suppressed under pain of servitude

in the galleys, or banishment. The gypsies were forbidden to form

colonies or tribes, to intermarry, or to trade at markets and fairs;

while the local authorities were commissioned to "hunt them down, take

and deliver them," even beyond the boundaries of their respective

jurisdictions. Still further legal fulminations against the gypsies were

promulgated by Charles II. in 1692 and 1695, but all alike proved

futile.

Similarly Philip V., in 1726, again increased the penalties on

_gitanismo_, banishing the sect from Madrid and other royal cities, and

in 1745, by a yet fiercer edict, he directed that they were to be

"hunted down with fire and sword; that even the sanctity of the temples

was to be invaded in their pursuit, and the gitanos dragged from the

horns of the altar, should they flee thither for refuge."

Such, during three centuries (1499-1788), was the set policy of Spain

towards her gypsy population. They were a proscribed race, treated as

aliens and outlaws, forbidden to intermarry, and their very name, dress,

and language were interdicted under severe penalties. Yet in spite of it

all the gypsies continued to flourish, to increase in numbers, and to

ply their customary trades of thieving, sorcery, and the rest, without

the slightest check.

Whether under any circumstances these repressive measures were or were

not the means best calculated to attain the object in view, it is at

least certain that their failure was assured beforehand by the negligent

way in which they were put in force; or rather by the fact they were

never put in force at all. The gypsies, and especially the females, as

we have already mentioned, by virtue of their divinations and certain

other services which they rendered to the upper and ruling classes of

Spain, had secured friends, or at least neutrals, amongst the very

people in whose hands lay the administration of the laws. They were thus

able to annul, and even to ridicule, the successive legal enactments

formulated to exterminate them.

Among the various reasons for the remarkable vitality of the Rommany

sect in thus surviving centuries of oppression, there stand out

prominently the strong tribal cohesion _inter se_ of the Zincali: their

marriage customs and the aversion with which they regarded any alliance

with the Busné, or Gentile. A gitano might, in rare instances, marry a

Spanish female, but in no case did a gitana consent to take a husband

outside her own race. Thus the _errate_--the "black blood" of the

Rommany, on which above all they prided themselves, was preserved

uncontaminated. Whether, had the repressive laws been vigorously carried

out, they would have met with better results, is an open question.

At length, in 1783, a fresh departure in policy was inaugurated by

Charles III., or perhaps it would be safer to say, during the reign of

that monarch, for he was more of a Nimrod than a statesman, and appears

to have occupied himself with grand _batidas_ for stags, wild boars, and

other game, rather than with the welfare of his people, and this at the

very time when the magnificent colonial empire of Spain was gradually

slipping from his grasp. Whoever it may have been that inspired the new

gypsy law of 1783, its author at least recognized the failure of the

penal decrees of the three preceding centuries, and instituted in their

place a more humane method of dealing with the nomads.

Under the new law the gypsies were, in the first place, declared "not to

be so by nature or origin, nor to proceed from an infected root." It was

enacted that to such of them as should abandon their distinctive mode of

life, dress, and language, the whole share of offices, employments,

trades and occupations, should be open equally with other Spanish

subjects. The whole range of trade, art, science, and the professions,

were thrown open to such of the gitanos as should abjure their former

vagabond life with all its evil associations; and penalties were imposed

on any who should attempt to molest them or to oppose their entry within

the pale of civilized life.

Finally, the law was declared to be equal as between a reclaimed gypsy

and any other "vassal" of Spain: but a death-penalty was prescribed

against such of the nomad race as declined this invitation to embrace an

honest life, and who continued their former habits.

The effect of this measure is marked, though the gitano survives. Fifty

years of equal rights accomplished in this case what centuries of

oppression had failed to achieve. Gitanismo is certainly not

extinguished, but it was modified and brought more or less under

control. The numbers of the gitanos have ever since decreased: they are

slowly relinquishing their vagrant habits, and live more in cities and

towns, and less in the mountains and fields. Ages, probably, would be

required wholly to eradicate the inveterate criminality practised from

birth by the Rommany race since unknown times--if, indeed, its entire

eradication is possible. But certainly the humane measure of Charles

III. during the lifetime of a man produced more tangible results than

the persecution of preceding centuries.

The gitano caste in Spain were at one time estimated at 60,000. Fifty

years ago, after half a century of equal laws, their numbers had fallen

to 40,000, of which one-third were inhabitants of Andalucia; while at

the present day, even that total might probably be reduced by one-half.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SPANISH GYPSY OF TO-DAY.

Hitherto we have dealt with the subject of the Spanish gypsy in a past

tense and from an historic point of view. It remains to add that the

Rommany sect, though decreasing in numbers and largely divested of their

former dangerous character, continues plentiful enough throughout Spain,

and especially in the southern provinces, their best known colonies

being at the Triana suburb of Seville, and in the rock-caves of the

Alpujarras at Granada, where certain tribes form one of the "stock

sights" familiar to travellers in Southern Spain. Though the later laws

have checked their vagabondism, yet the instinct of Ishmael survives,

and, especially in the summer-time, the gypsies wander over the

Andalucian _vegas_ and flock to rural fairs, where the men drive their

ancient trade of dealing in horses--mostly stolen, and all "faked" and

got-up for sale, though in these matters the gypsies are perhaps no

worse than their gentile rivals.

At the fairs the wealthier gypsies also trade in precious stones and

jewellery; the poorer in hardware, "tinkery," and the like. The

_gitanas_, gaudily arrayed in colours of startling hues, and blazing

with heavy golden ornaments, deal in divinations and tell the _buena

ventura_ as of old, the younger girls ever ready to engage in their

lissom dances and in the wild suggestive singing characteristic of the

Rommany race.

In towns and cities some of the gypsy women have a large and varied

_clientèle_: they are admitted to the best houses, and the proudest

señoras deign to inspect the ancient lace, the bric-à-brac and jewellery

that they bring for sale. Of antique lace, elaborately wrought, and of

painted fans and such-like relics, the supply in Spain seems

inexhaustible: and eventually the glib tongue of the gitana may probably

obtain about half the price originally asked.

Despite certain changes--hereafter described--the Spanish gypsy remains

exotic to Hispania, distinct in type both of form and feature; the

restless, suspicious eye of the hunted animal, the lithe build, and

straight supple limbs, even among the _svelte_ and graceful Andalucians,

still distinguish these swarthy sons of the wilderness.[57] The

true-bred gypsy remains a distinct species. Though amenable to the same

laws, and recognized as a Spanish subject, he is distinguishable at a

glance. The youths undergo their allotted period of army service, but

remain not an hour beyond the stipulated time with the colours.

Their normal occupations to-day are chiefly those of butchers--all the

shambles of Spain are in their hands--tinkers, horse-breakers, mule and

donkey-dealers, and basket-makers. But, at a pinch, the gitano now

condescends to engage on the lighter work of the land--hoeing, weeding,

&c. Like the Jew, the gypsy has ever hitherto been conspicuous by his

absence from every field of manual labour: both prefer the lighter

barters of life; and that the gitano should now--even casually--take to

such honest work, is perhaps a sign of the times.

One great change has, however, been wrought by the century of equal

laws--a change perhaps of vital import to the villain crew. The once

sacred _errate_ is contaminated. Marriages between the two races--with

or without the sanction of the church--are now frequent, though the

Spaniard who contracts such ill-savoured union loses caste among his or

her own people, and the children of these mixed marriages never lose the

taint.

[Illustration: Plate XXXIV.

DANCERS AT GRANADA--THE BOLERO.

Page 289.]

By this means there has sprung into existence, during late years, an

intermediate class, neither pure Gitano nor Spanish, which is daily

increasing, and, being free from all the traditionary observances of the

gypsy, mingles more and more with the national life, carrying with it

much of the ready wit and piquancy of the latter.

The result of this grafting of an element of gitanismo upon the original

Castilian stock is the _Flamenco_ of to-day, and it is a curious satire

on Spanish society that the style and attire, even the language, of this

wanton half-caste breed have become a fashionable craze--have been by

some paradoxical freak adopted by a section of even the higher

Madrilenian circles who revel in copying the garb, the manners, and the

jargon of the once loathed gypsy. Flamencos are found in every

grade--well known among the gilded youth of Madrid or Seville--but the

bull-ring appears to provide the most approved models for this school.

Nor is the mania confined to the men: the bright gala-dress of the

gitana has become fashionable among high-placed señoras who appear at

dance or salon sporting the gaudy Manila shawl with its flowing fringe,

short frock, and with hair coiffeured _á la Flamenca_. To prefer the

raciest and most highly-flavoured Spanish dishes, to quaff freely the

Manzanilla, to smoke cigarettes, to prefer olives to bonbons, to know

the bull-fighters by their pet names, to be loud if not witty, smart in

repartee and slang--this is to be _Flamenca_.

Both sexes of the Flamencos proper retain the dress and manner of the

original gypsy. The brazen beauty of the young Flamencas has the same

seductive charms for the _Busné_; and it is from the half-caste that the

dancing girls of the cities and light-fingered gentry of many

accomplishments are mostly recruited.

A considerable admixture of gypsy-blood is found among the lower strata

of the bull-fighting profession, though its higher ranks are

comparatively free from it. His intensely superstitious nature unfits

the true-bred gypsy from real success in this or any pursuit where nerve

and decision are required. The only gitano _espadas_ of note are

Chicorro and El Gallo. The former has latterly lost nerve and prestige

through a curious practical joke played upon his superstitious nature

by a ventriloquial member of his _cuadrilla_. As he stood, sword and

_muleta_ in hand, facing a black bull of the Duke of Veragua's breed in

the Plaza of Madrid, suddenly the beast addressed him in low sepulchral

tones, "_Te voy á coger!_"--I am going to catch you! Such was the effect

on Chicorro's nerves that his life was only saved by his attendant

_chulos_, who drew off the brute's attack, nor has Chicorro ever since

dared to face a _black_ bull.

[Illustration: GYPSY LAD.]

The resident Spanish gypsies cluster together in some separate quarter

of the town, or form an isolated mud-built _barrio_ outside its walls.

Dwelling apart, and without the slightest bond of sympathy with their

Castilian neighbours, their outward signs of joy or grief--both

demonstrative--pass unheard and ignored. In their religion--adopted

perforce of law, as before set forth, and which savours of idolatry

simple, with a dash of superstition and fanaticism--in their curious

marriage and funereal customs--both occasions of noisy orgy, the latter

resembling an Irish "wake" with its alternations of wailing by the hour

"to order," and feasting in turn--the gypsies are left severely alone.

There is no sympathy with them. On the other hand, when civil or

political disturbances prevail, and southern fervour is all ablaze, the

gypsy _barrio_ remains spectacular and unmoved.

No "patriotic" dreams or soaring ambitions disturb the gypsy's squalid

life--what has he to gain? What can he ever hope to be, but the despised

and rejected, under any form of government? No list of misguided

peasantry, beguiled and betrayed by base agitator, ever registers his

name: the midnight meetings of the "Black Hand" find no gitano present

at their sworn and secret conclaves. The vagabond is too shrewd

uselessly to embroil himself in abortive efforts to upset existing

order: though there is little doubt what his action would be should the

opportunity of pillage with impunity ever present itself.

LOS BOHEMIOS.--There remain to be noticed the bands of nomad gypsies who

flock to Spain during the winter months, but whose true home is said to

be in Bohemia. These are not in touch with the native tribes, speaking

but few words of Spanish or of its gypsy jargon. In summer they infest

the roads and by-ways of Austria, travelling southwards, as winter

advances, thus resembling in habit their British congeners. Their type

of feature is of more Eastern caste, their faces almost black, with long

tangled hair, in both sexes, hanging down to the shoulders. Their home

is the wigwam or rickety waggon with its load of rags and babies, and

its mixed team of mules, donkeys, and ponies. The lurcher-dog and the

snare assist these Zingali to fill their _puchero_. They traverse the

wilds of Spain in camps of thirty to fifty, squatting near village or

outside city walls, ostensibly to occupy themselves with iron and copper

tinkery, kettle-making, and the like. Some of the women of these

Bohemians are striking enough in their gypsy-beauty; the same faces are

seen in successive years, so their journeyings are to some extent

methodical.

One meets these nomad bands all over rural Spain, laboriously "trekking"

axle-deep, across dusky-brown plain or lonely waste of brushwood and

palmetto--picturesque objects--indeed the only element of life and

colour amidst these desolate scenes.

[Illustration: GYPSY DANCE.]

CHAPTER XXV.

IN SEARCH OF THE LAMMERGEYER.

A WINTER RIDE IN THE SIERRAS.

To the Lammergeyer tradition has assigned some romantic attributes, and

a character of wondrous dash and daring. This is the bird that is

credited with feats of hurling hunters from perilous positions down crag

or crevass, carrying off children to its eyrie, and kidnapping unguarded

babes. Even Dr. Bree, in his "Birds of Europe," while doubting that it

habitually assails grown-up people, gravely asserts that a pair of these

birds will not hesitate to attack a man whom they have caught at a

disadvantage; while one will venture, single-handed, an onslaught on two

hunters who are asleep. Some naturalists now seem inclined to go to the

other extreme, and to regard the Lammergeyer as merely a huge Neophron.

No doubt the great size and weird, dragon-like appearance of the

Gypaëtus have tended to promote exaggeration, while its rarity and

remote haunts have made it no easy subject to study, and few have formed

its acquaintance in its own almost inaccessible domains. Our small

experiences, narrated in the two following chapters, seem to show that

the truth lies between the two extremes.

Towards the end of January we set out for a fortnight's exploration of

the mountains beyond Tempul and Algar, a forty-mile ride to the eastward

of Jerez. Bitter was the cold as we rode off in the darkness at 5 A.M.,

only two stars shining in the eastern firmament; truly the word

_recréo_, as Blas explained to the sentry on duty at the old Moorish

gateway, that we were only bound on _pleasure_, sounded almost

satirical--as some one has said, life would be endurable but for its

pleasures. By dawn we were crossing the hungry gravel-ridges beyond

Cuartillos, and watched the sun rise from behind the stony pile of San

Christobal, bathing the distant mountains, whither we were bound, in

glorious golden glow.

Crossing the Guadalete by the ford of Barca Florida, our route led

through leagues of lovely park-like land--here straggling natural woods

or ferny glades, anon opening out upon stretches of heath and palmetto.

The track, where one existed, a typical Spanish by-way, shut in between

vertical banks of slippery white marl, that barely left room for the

laden mule; its narrow bed was a turgid mud-hole, honeycombed with the

footprints of beasts that had gone before. Where the heath was more open

we could take an independent course; but the scrub, as a rule, was

impenetrable, and left no alternative but to go on plunging through the

clinging mud. At noon we outspanned for _almuerzo_ beneath a cork-oak,

the weather and the scene alike lovely beyond words. The evergreen woods

swarmed with life; over the green expanse of palmetto hovered

hen-harriers: a pair of kites swept over the wooded slopes of Berlanger,

grey shrikes sat perched on dead boughs; chats, larks, buntings, and

goldfinches swarmed, and all the usual Spanish birds, to wit, bustards

great and small, cranes, storks, peewits, red-legs, kestrels, &c., were

observed during the day's ride.

Later in the afternoon we were fairly among the outspurs of the sierra,

and overhead, on heavy wing, soared the vultures. What a curious

commentary on the state of a country are such hordes of huge

carrion-feeders, and how eloquently does their presence attest a

backward and listless condition in the lands they inhabit! In Spain, it

is true, vultures serve a useful office as scavengers; yet in modern

Europe they surely seem an anachronism. No doubt it is due as much to

the physical conditions, to the desert character and semi-tropical

climate of this wild land, as to the apathy of the Spanish people, that

they exist in such numbers. Among nations more keenly imbued with

commercial instincts, the flock-master takes care that his stock shall

support themselves in order to support him. The daily, hourly losses

which are implied in the supplementary support of hordes of huge

flesh-eating birds, each as heavy as a Spanish sheep and voracious as a

hyena, would simply put him out of the market, and eventually land him

in bankruptcy. But Spain cares nothing for modern ideas, and disdains to

put herself about in the universal race for wealth. There is dignity in

her attitude, but there is at least a suspicion of lassitude. Where

Nature is prodigal, man becomes proportionately apathetic. Here her

gifts more than suffice for simple tastes and day-to-day requirements,

and the rural Andaluz seeks no more.

[Illustration: LAMMERGEYER--A FIRST IMPRESSION.]

In agriculture, stock-raising, and other pastoral pursuits, the

rudiments of modern system--drainage, irrigation, and the like--are

ignored. In the burning heats of summer, when every green thing is

scorched to death, the cattle die by hundreds from thirst and want of

pasturage; in winter, when plains are flooded, and valleys

water-logged, the death-rate from cold, want, and disease is hardly less

heavy than that of summer. Small wonder the great bare-necked scavengers

of Nature increase and flourish.

Passing beneath the twin crags of Las Dos Hermanas, we struck the course

of the Majaceite, whose rushing stream, embowered amidst magnificent

oleanders, looked more _like trout_ than anything we had then seen in

these sierras. Among the mountain streams above Alcalá de los Gazules

and in the Sierra de la Jarda we have observed its darting form, and

further south some large trout have more recently been captured.

It was necessary to ford the Majaceite, which, in its swollen state and

opaque current, was one of those things that bring one's heart into

one's mouth; the bottom, however, proved sound: we plunged through all

right, and after some stiffish mountain-riding reached the _pueblocito_

of Algar just as the setting sun was bathing the wild serrania in

softest purples and gold.

The posada was a typical Spanish village inn. Our horses we had

ourselves to see quartered in the stable, which occupied one side of the

courtyard, while our dinner was being made ready in a small whitewashed

room adjoining. The sleeping-quarters above consisted of a single small

attic, absolutely devoid of furniture or of contents beyond a pile of

sacks containing corn, or "paja" (chaff), in one corner, and our own

belongings, including saddles, mule-pack, &c., &c., which lay littered

all over the floor. Three trestle-beds ("catres") were produced, and in

deference to the idiosyncrasies of the _extranjero_, a tiny wash-basin

was placed on the window-sill--not that there was any _window_, beyond a

folding wooden shutter. Dinner consisted of an _olla_, in which small

morsels of pork could be hunted up amidst the recesses of a steaming

mass of _garbanzos_ (chick-pea), by no means bad, though we were too

hungry to be fastidious.

[Illustration: DANCE AND GUITAR.]

A small crowd of idlers, as usual, hung about the open courtyard of the

posada, watching for "any new thing," and speculating on our objects in

coming. I overheard the word _minerál_, and remembering that I had been

amusing myself in sifting some of the sands of the Majaceite, thought it

best to dispel any false impressions by inviting the bystanders to share

a _boracha_ of the rough wine of local growth, and the usual cigarette.

It is always best to have some definite object, so I told my guests that

I had come to the sierra to shoot the _quebranta-huesos_, literally,

"bone-smasher." They stared and mumbled over the name; had never heard

of such a thing; the first man one meets probably never has; but there

was in the village a goatherd, _muy inteligente en pajaros_, "who knew

all about birds." I sent for this worthy, Francisco Garcia de Conde by

name, a light-built, wiry mountaineer. Francisco's ornithological repute

was easily acquired, for among the blind a one-eyed man is king; but he

certainly did know the Lammergeyer, and his description of its habits

and appearance passed the evening away pleasantly enough. The

_quebranta-huesos_ he described as a fierce and solitary bird--never

seen more than two together, and discriminated it from the vultures as

being _muy dañino_--very destructive to goats, kids, and other

hill-stock, which it seizes and kills on the spot, or hurls over the

ledge of some precipice. He well described their habit of engaging in

aërial combat--"siempre se ponen peleando en el ayre"--and their loud

wild "pwing! pwing!" resounding through the mountain solitudes. Of their

actual nesting-places, however (which I was most anxious to discover),

he knew nothing, beyond positively stating (and in this he was

corroborated by other hill-men) that they bred exclusively in the

loftier sierras beyond Ronda. We had ourselves spent some time

traversing those very sierras without seeing anything of this bird; but

should add, were not at that time specially in search of it. Their

eyries, Francisco asserted, were only to be found in the region of

"living rocks" (_piedras vivas_), which form the loftiest peaks. In

this, however, as will appear in the next chapter, our friend Francisco

was mistaken.

Our conversation was listened to--I don't imagine enjoyed--by a pair of

lovers, who, with a rather pretty girl, the daughter of the house,

presumably in the capacity of duena, occupied the other side of the

table. The _enamorados_ scarcely ever spoke; he sat looking mutely into

her face, only muttering a whisper at long intervals. She was absolutely

silent, and looked stolid and stupid too.

Leaving Algar, we crossed the bleak plateaux to the eastward, brown,

stony, and sterile; thence descending to a forest region, where the

track followed the course of a clear mountain stream, embedded among

oleander, laurestinus, and myrtle, their foliage forming an evergreen

tunnel, along which we rode in grateful shade. For some distance our

route and the burn ran parallel, their courses sometimes coincident;

then we diverged to the left, ascending the slope of a _garganta_,

amidst noble oaks, chestnuts, and ilex, all, save the oaks, in full

leaf, and from the gnarled trunks hung hare's-foot ferns and masses of

ivy and parasitic plants in green festoons. Of bird-life, but little

beyond a few common small birds was observable, and on a sunny slope we

came suddenly on a big grey mongoose, which, however, got to ground

before the gun could be unslung.

The first range explored was the series of crags terminating the Sierra

de las Cabras; but it proved blank as regarded our chief object. The

summit is a long, narrow, knife-edged ridge, along which vertical strata

of limestone, bleached white as marble, protrude abruptly as the walls

of a ruined city. Amidst these ruinous streets were a few Black Chats,

and on a shoulder of the hill a solitary Blue Rock-Thrush; a small eagle

was sweeping over the slopes, but not a sign of the Lammergeyer could we

see. The day was bright and clear, and the view extensive and wild. On

the north the granite mass of San Christobal, now lightly flecked with

snow, limited our horizon; but in other directions rose an infinity of

grey, stony sierras, range beyond range, some sharp, jagged, and cruelly

bare of vegetation. To the south we could discern the silvery sheen of

the Lagunas de Janda, with glimpses of the Straits of Gibraltar, and the

misty outline of African highlands beyond.

We had a long, hard day ere we reached the cortijo of a hospitable

hill-farmer among the cork-woods of the valley beyond. Here we sought a

night's lodging, and the kindly mountaineer, "Francisco de Naranjo, su

servidor de usted," as with a low bow and typical Andalucian courtesy he

introduced himself, at once made us feel that the Spanish welcome--"aqui

tiene usted su casa"--was, in his case, no empty form of words. We

dined together, Francisco and I, on garbanzos, thrushes, a chicken, and

black puddings! These last, and the consciousness that a newly-killed

pig, whose life-blood no doubt had furnished the delicacy, hung from the

rafters immediately behind my head, amidst store of algarrobas,

capsicums, and heads of golden maize, were the only drawbacks to my

comfort. We discussed agricultural and political subjects, and agreed in

sharing conservative views, though, in Spain, I fancy I might turn

rather more of a reformer; but this I did not hint at. Francisco

observed that should Lord Salisbury's then existing Government in

England fall, it would be a _mal rato_ (a bad time) for property-owners

everywhere! My host told me that he set his watch by the sun, and in

answer to a question when the sun would rise to-morrow, promptly

replied, "At 7.19."[58]

After dinner we adjourned to the large outer room, where among the

miscellaneous crew gathered round the blazing logs were a wild-honey

hunter, and a birdcatcher who was plying his vocation in the adjacent

woods. I was surprised to find among his captures a number of redwings;

of a couple of dozen thrushes which I bought for my own and men's

eating, no less than eight were redwings, and on subsequent days he

caught many more. This man, though he knew that the song-thrushes were

migratory in Spain, saying they were _pajaros de entrada_, which left

when the swallows appeared, did not see any difference between them and

the redwings. He had also caught a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and while I

was examining it, one of the half-wild cats of the farm, cautiously

stalking beneath my chair, seized the prey and made off into outer

darkness.

It was a typical Andalucian scene around the hearth, the group of

bronzed leather-clad mountaineers, some already "gone to roost"

(audibly) on the low mud settee round the outer wall, while others

rolled the everlasting "papelito," and one, as usual, "touched" the

guitar. My host had a narrow "catre" set up for me in his own room, and

next morning, after an early cup of the delicious thick Spanish

chocolate and the sweet biscuits for which the neighbouring village of

Alcalá bears a local repute, we started on foot to ascend the range

behind the house while yet the hills were wrapped in mist-wreaths.

The ascent at first lay through hanging forests, broken here and there

by grey crags, the home of the chough and the eagle-owl. Here a cushat

occasionally dashed away, or a jay awoke the echoes at safe distance.

Above the trees the climb became harder and the ground of the roughest,

stony acclivities choked with brushwood. Beyond these came the region of

rock, vast monoliths and rock walls beside which a man felt a very mite

in the scale of creation.

On the conical rock-pile, the Picacho del Aljibe, which towers over the

surrounding sierras not unlike a gigantic Arthur's Seat over the

Salisbury Crags, we had enjoyed in a former year a sight of the

Gypaëtus; but now it proved blank, nor could our guides, nor a goatherd

we met on the mountain, give us any information beyond the customary

"hay muchos en Estremadura." Whatever one may seek, it would appear,

abounds in Estremadura! The Spanish peasant, whether from an

over-anxious desire to assist, or from a fear of appearing ignorant, is

apt to err on the side of imagination or exaggeration. Information

received from them needs careful sifting, or disappointment may ensue.

Thus, while on a fishing expedition in the north of Spain, I was

sounding my companion, a Gallegan peasant, as to the bears, deer, and

other game of the surrounding sierras. At first his answers seemed

straight and fair, but a bear story or two took me aback, and presently

he insisted that the _red_ deer in those hills _never cast their horns_,

which grew to a fabulous size. Before abandoning the discussion I said

casually--with a view to "fix" him--"_Y leones?_" "Lions! No, señor,

here there are none; but further over yonder (this with a wave of his

hand to the westward) there are many." The expression, _mas allá hay

muchos_, and the gesture that accompanied it, conveyed the impression

that only a few leagues across the mountains, there were swarms of

lions: but on being questioned more precisely as to the locality, he

replied--"In the United States!" Possibly in that lad's mind, the

_Estados Unidos_ commenced somewhere just beyond the limit of his

view--at any rate, further zoological discussion was suspended.

Many of the crags were tenanted by vultures, but these we expressly

avoided, and directed the search to spots where these birds were not.

For some days we sought in vain: at last we espied an eyrie which

appeared to give promise of success. This was a wide crevice in the face

of a precipice, which from the copious whitewash below, was evidently

occupied. Some broken crags on the left seemed to afford a chance of

climbing within shot of the eyrie; and having reached the spot, Blas

fired a shot below, when there followed a scrambling noise within the

cave, and out swept--not the coveted Gypaëtus, but a huge bare-necked

griffon. I appeased my disappointment with both barrels, and the B.B.

taking effect on the head, the vulture collapsed and fell

down--down--with a mighty thud to the slopes below.

We could find nothing but vultures here: every crag was possessed by

them, and we examined several of their abodes. They were already

beginning to build: the remnants of last year's structures being now

(January 22nd) supplemented by fresh live branches of oak and olive, and

big claws-full of grass torn up by the roots.

'Twere a long tale to tell of fruitless efforts: we never so much as saw

our coveted prize hereabouts, and at length we left the kindly farmer's

house. The pretty Anita who had waited on us, and who, though she never

sat down in her master's presence, joined freely in the conversation,

had, we observed, donned quite an extra stratum of _poudre d'amour_, or

some such compound, upon her fair brown cheeks to bid _adios_ to the mad

Inglés; but neither she nor hearty Francisco would hear of accepting any

return for all the trouble of our visit. We had an idea, in the former

case, that coquetry might have had something to do with Anita's

refusal, but time forbade the solution of the question.

[Illustration: GRIFFON VULTURE. (A sketch in the Sierra.)]