. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. 164 Unexplored Spain suitable crass which elsewhere form their invariable nesting-site. Cushats and robins lent an air of familiarity to the scene, while azure-winged magpies—a species pecuHarly Spanish—hopped and chattered hard by, curiosity overcoming fear. There were also pretty Sardinian warblers, with long tails and a white nuchal spot like a coal-tit. Other birds seen in this sierra include merlin and kestrel, green woodpecker, jay, blackbird, thrush, redwing, woodlark, and chaffinch; and on off-days we shot a few red- legged partridges. The
. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. 164 Unexplored Spain suitable crass which elsewhere form their invariable nesting-site. Cushats and robins lent an air of familiarity to the scene, while azure-winged magpies—a species pecuHarly Spanish—hopped and chattered hard by, curiosity overcoming fear. There were also pretty Sardinian warblers, with long tails and a white nuchal spot like a coal-tit. Other birds seen in this sierra include merlin and kestrel, green woodpecker, jay, blackbird, thrush, redwing, woodlark, and chaffinch; and on off-days we shot a few red- legged partridges. The two packs employed to-day numbered forty—twenty-four bio- and sixteen small podencos, all yellow and white, the larger having a cross of mastiff. That evening two of the best in the pack were missing—" Capitan," killed by a boar in the mancha; the other returned during the night, fearfully wounded, one foreleg almost severed. The head-keeper told us that these podencos fear the he-wolf They will run keenly on his scent, but never dare to close with him as they do with boar. Yet curiously they have been SAEDiNiAN WARBLER knowu to fratcmise with the she-wolf, and in no case will they attack, but rather incline to caress her. It was estimated by the drivers that eighty head of big-game (reses) were viewed to-day. Thirty-two shots were fired, but only my one stag was killed. Had the wind held steady, much better results were probable.^ Included among the guests at Mezquitillas—and they represented rank and learning, arms. State, and Church—was a genial and imposing personality in the poet laureate of Spain, Sr. D. Antonio Cavestany, who celebrated this delightful if somewhat unlucky day in a series of graceful couplets. We are wholly unequal to translate, but copy two or three which readers who understand Spanish will appreciate :— > I never myself count shots, hits or misses—horas non ntimero. The above record is solely due to the incejitinn by our gra
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjecthunting, booksubjectnaturalhistory
