. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . cries. How wondrously theymarshal those long uniform files, bird behind bird withoutbreak or confusion, and how precisely do those thousandblack wing-points beat in rapid regular unison ! Flamingoesare not hard birds : their feathers being loose and open,and the extremely long necks a specially vulnerable part,they maj be Ijrought down from a considerable heighteven with small shot. One evening, while collectingspecimens of small Ijirds on the open marsh, the writer 106 WILD SPAIN. killed a pretty rig
. Wild Spain ... records of sport with rifle, rod, and gun, natural history and exploration . cries. How wondrously theymarshal those long uniform files, bird behind bird withoutbreak or confusion, and how precisely do those thousandblack wing-points beat in rapid regular unison ! Flamingoesare not hard birds : their feathers being loose and open,and the extremely long necks a specially vulnerable part,they maj be Ijrought down from a considerable heighteven with small shot. One evening, while collectingspecimens of small Ijirds on the open marsh, the writer 106 WILD SPAIN. killed a pretty right-antl-left at Haniingoes with No ( to see them on the wing a long way off, I laydown Hat among the low samphire-scrub and presentlyhad them (five) right overhead. Both these birds fellstone-dead. On another occasion, many years before, atthe Yeta Lengua, our four barrels, each loaded with ninetreble-nesting slugs, brought down three fine flamingoesfrom a herd rising at upwards of 180 measured having obtained specimens, we did not further molestthese singular A KIGHT-AND-LEFT AT FLAMINGOES. Flamingoes were not the sole attraction: the desolateregion around abounded with wild life, furred and feathered,and many a pleasant bye-day was put in among thevermin. One morning we rode out to some distantthickets where a neighbouring herdsman—half peasant,half poacher—complained that a family of lynxes wereworking havoc among his kids. Our friend, a man ofsquare iron-knit frame, with the eyes and claws of aneagle, rode before us, no less than eleven wire-hairedpiuJcitcos (hunting-dogs) made fast to his saddle-bow bycords of twisted esparto. The first thicket tried held alynx, which, disturbed l)y the , bolted at speed AMONG THE FLAMINGOES. 107 right between us and rolled over with a dose of treble A about her lugs. From this one small mancha the dogs putout, besides the lynx, several partridge and rabbits, aMontagus harrier, and a pair of mallar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidwildspainrecords00chapric
