. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . dmirable-looking ground for pig,but not at all so, according to preconceived ideas, for thewild-goat. It was, therefore, an agreeable surprise when,early next morning, there were descried three il)ex, quietlygrazing on the bloom of the aJiohuja brush beyond a deepravine, and only about 1,000 feet above the camp. Thesethree, while we watched, were joined ]>y other two,when some make-believe sparring ensued between apair of rams : but at this season (March) there wasobviously no great development of
. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . dmirable-looking ground for pig,but not at all so, according to preconceived ideas, for thewild-goat. It was, therefore, an agreeable surprise when,early next morning, there were descried three il)ex, quietlygrazing on the bloom of the aJiohuja brush beyond a deepravine, and only about 1,000 feet above the camp. Thesethree, while we watched, were joined ]>y other two,when some make-believe sparring ensued between apair of rams : but at this season (March) there wasobviously no great development of the combativeinstnict. 158 WILD SPAIN. The next spectacle was less welcome. On the height ofthe ridge, high above iis, we descried against the sky-linethe crouching figure of a man, stealthily advancing asthough in touch of game. This ill-omened apparition, asthe sequel proved, was the key-note of this campaign : theHcinaua Hctiita of Easter-tide had commenced, we were fore-stalled Ijy native cazadores, and a carefully-ijlanned andwell-organized exhibition resulted in comparative IBEX (FEMALE)-BERMEJA. Nor had the danger of this been entirely unforeseen, butadverse circumstances had delayed our movements. Despite our local competitors, luck at first seemed in-clined to be propitious. While going to our positions,along the knife-edged spur that enclosed our glen, an ibexfell to the rifle of one of our party, who had come suddenlyon five (four good males) quietly feeding in a pine-cladcorrie, and a standing shot, at 70 yards, secured one—un-fortunately the only cabra ,• for, their heads being con- IBEX-SHOOTING IN SPAIN. 159 cealed among the scrub, the sex was not female (shot March 26th) ^Yas found, on beinggralloched, to contain a pair of kids, which would nothave seen the light under three weeks. Another female,followed by her chivata, was shot on this beat, thougheventually lost, by one of our Spanish cazadorcs, JuanMarquez. The field of our o
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