. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. 268 Unexplored Spain when the mud was moist and plastic; then through shallow marsh and stagnant waters gradually deepening. Here from a patch of rush hard by sprang three hinds with their fawns and splashed away through the shallows, their russet pelts gleaming in the early sunlight. Gradually the water deepened; " mucha agua, mucho fango!" groaned our companion, Felipe; but this morning we meant to reach the very heart of the marisma, and before ten o'clock were cooking our breakfast on a far-away islet whereon never British foot had tr
. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. 268 Unexplored Spain when the mud was moist and plastic; then through shallow marsh and stagnant waters gradually deepening. Here from a patch of rush hard by sprang three hinds with their fawns and splashed away through the shallows, their russet pelts gleaming in the early sunlight. Gradually the water deepened; " mucha agua, mucho fango!" groaned our companion, Felipe; but this morning we meant to reach the very heart of the marisma, and before ten o'clock were cooking our breakfast on a far-away islet whereon never British foot had trod before, and which was. STILTS DISTORBBD AT THEIK NESTING-PLACE literally strewn with avocets' eggs, while nests of stilts, redshanks, pratincoles, and many more lay scattered around. During this day we discovered two nests of the slender-billed gull (Larus gelastes), not previously known to breed in Spain; also, we then believed, those of the Mediterranean black-headed gull [L. melanocephalus), though the latter were afterwards as- cribed by oological experts (perhaps correctly) to the gull-billed tern (Sterna anglica), a species whose eggs we also found by the dozen. The immense aggregations of flamingoes which, in wet seasons, throng the middle marismas can scarce be described. Our bird- islets lay so remote from the low-lying shores that no land whatever was in sight; but the desolate horizon that surrounded them was adorned by an almost unbroken line of pink and white. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Chapman, Abel, 1851-1929; Buck, Walter John. joint author. London, E. Arnold
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjecthunting, booksubjectnaturalhistory
