. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . ng their plumes in ladies hats. Let ladies humanelyremember that these plumes are only attained in the nestingseason, when to kill the male means the sacrifice of awhole family. Fortunately there remain sequestered nooks,sacred as yet to wild nature. Both in the neighbourhoodof Almonte and in certain marshy regions of vast cane-brake and wooded swamp on the Estremenian border, theresurvive unknown and unmolested colonies of these gracefulcreatures, where for many a year to come the Egrets, Buff-backed
. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . ng their plumes in ladies hats. Let ladies humanelyremember that these plumes are only attained in the nestingseason, when to kill the male means the sacrifice of awhole family. Fortunately there remain sequestered nooks,sacred as yet to wild nature. Both in the neighbourhoodof Almonte and in certain marshy regions of vast cane-brake and wooded swamp on the Estremenian border, theresurvive unknown and unmolested colonies of these gracefulcreatures, where for many a year to come the Egrets, Buff-backed and Squacco Herons, the Night-Heron and LittleBittern, 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 •272 WILD SPAIN. human life well nigh intolerable. The very toads are thereas big as small footstools ; the natives yellow and smiken-ejed, with hollow cheeks and pa^-chment skin. Here, when summer-heats provoke miasma and fetidairs, languor-laden, from the morass, the herons con-. BUFF-BACKED HEROX. gregate. In June their slight nests crowd the sallow-brakes and clumps of gnarled alders and aspens islandedin marsh, and barricaded with bramble and vicious thornyzarzas. Amidst umbrageous gloom the Night-Heronand Bittern dream away the hours of daylight, theformer among the branches, the latter in thickest sedge. BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME. 273 The Bittern lays its pheasant-like eggs in April, often inMarch ; the Little Bittern not till June. It is difficult tofix a date for the rest—so uncertain are they, and sodependent on the seasons and the quantit} of water inthe marismas. We have eggs of the Night-Heron takenas early as May 20th—another year none were laid tillJune 8th. From this latter date onwards is perhaps theaverage time for eggs of that species, as well as those ofthe Egret, Buft-back, and Squacco Herons, and the LittleBittern. So retiring are th
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