. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . ut the year(though the young are known, occasionally, to cross thePyrenees into France), and in his varied phases compara-tively common. Next in importance comes a large tawnyeagle of, as yet, undefined specific rank, which, for thereasons above set forth, we consider entitled to a place inthe list. Then, in spring, come the Booted and Serpent-Eagles from Africa to nest on Spanish soil and prey onits abundant reptile-life. But in winter two other speciesdescend from their mountain-homes to prey on the
. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . ut the year(though the young are known, occasionally, to cross thePyrenees into France), and in his varied phases compara-tively common. Next in importance comes a large tawnyeagle of, as yet, undefined specific rank, which, for thereasons above set forth, we consider entitled to a place inthe list. Then, in spring, come the Booted and Serpent-Eagles from Africa to nest on Spanish soil and prey onits abundant reptile-life. But in winter two other speciesdescend from their mountain-homes to prey on the gameand wildfowl of the lowlands. These are the Golden Eagleand Bonellis Eagle—both described more particularly inthe next chapter—of which we have shot specimenson the plains during the winter months. The twoGolden Eagles now in the Zoological Gardens wereboth shot by us in the flat country, or campina, in theneighbourhood of Jerez de la Frontera—one winged as itflew to roost in the pinales of Los Inglesillos, the other bya chance shot in the rough, broken country AT ROOST--SERPEXT-EAriLES. 205 CHAPTER EXPERIENCES WITH EAGLES AND VULTURES. II.—Chiefly relating to the Sierra. On a hot May morning we lay beneath the shade ofpahns and eucalypti in the garden at Jerez, watching thegyrations of Kestrels, Swifts, and Bee-eaters, and lazilylistening to the soft l)ird-chorus—an infinite, space-fillingrefrain from myriad Nightingales, Serins, and Gold-finches—to the spondee of Hoopoe and dactyl of there appeared, far overhead, some half-dozenGriffon Vultures wheeling in immense circles, the hugebirds dwarfed by the altitude to mere specks. Thenanother stratum, still higher, was detected, and afterwardsa keen eye distinguished a third, and then a fourth, bejondthe average range of human vision. How many moretiers of soaring vultures might yet occupy the regions ofunseen space beyond, cannot be told: but the incidentserves to il
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