Wild Spain Part 19

_March 30th_ (1883).--Woodchats: and first Cuckoo heard in garden.

Starlings, Thrushes and Sky-larks have all gone.

_March 31st_ (1872).--Swarms of Bee-eaters, Eared and Russet Wheatears, and two or three Rollers.

_March 31st_ (1891).--While away in sierra, the following birds have appeared: Savi's, Spectacled, and Subalpine Warblers (all obtained), Cirl-Buntings, Swifts.

_April 3rd._--Nightingales in garden. They do not sing for the first few days. First eggs laid May 7th.

_April 6th._--Montagu's Harrier arrived (the last Hen-Harrier shot on 10th). Demoiselle Crane shot.

_April 8th._--Turtle-Doves in small flights, and many Bee-eaters and Rollers arrived. Last Snipe shot to-day.

_April 9th._--Pratincoles, Whiskered and Lesser Terns.

_April 10th._--Pair Marbled Ducks, one Nyroca Pochard, and an Egret shot. Observed White-faced Ducks.

_April 16th._--Glossy Ibis--Zopiton.

_April 20th._--The following have arrived within the last week or ten days. Great Sedge Warbler, Orphan and Garden Warblers, Whitethroat, Ortolan, and Golden Orioles--the latter seen first to-day.

_April 23rd._--Pair Hobbies observed--_pinales_.

_April 25th._--Alpine Swifts pa.s.sing over.

_April 27th._--Shot Buff-backed Heron, Isla Menor: and found Bittern's nest with three eggs; also two of the Great Bustard, each with two eggs.

_April 28th._--Night-Herons observed--marisma Gallega.

_April 29th._--Rufous Warblers (_aedon galactodes_) arrived in hundreds.

On same date Honey-Buzzards pa.s.sing northwards, flying quite low against a north-easterly gale, in large bands. A friend, shooting Turtle-Doves in the _pinales_ of San Fernando, killed six. These Buzzards pa.s.s yearly in hundreds (both adults and immature), on one or two days at this period, but usually fly very high.

_April 30th._--Shot the first Russet-necked Nightjar and observed Melodious Willow-Warblers (_Hypolais polyglotta_). Enormous pa.s.sage of Swallows to-day. This is also the date when the Little Bittern and Squacco Heron are due.

_May 3rd._--Black Terns appeared. The only other nesting species yet to arrive are the Spotted Flycatcher, Pallid Warbler (_Hypolais opaca_), and the remainder of the Nightjars, Rufous Warblers, &c.

_May 4th._--Camp in mid-marisma. All this night, commencing about 10 P.M., a stream of migrating birds kept pa.s.sing overhead. From the dark sky resounded for hours the cries of gulls and terns, sundry small land-birds, whimbrels, plovers and sandpipers of various species: besides harsher shrieks and notes that resembled those of hawks and herons of some kind.

Amidst such wealth of bird-life lies work for many spring-visits. The nesting-season, moreover (the most interesting period to the ornithologist), extends over a greater period of time than is the case at home. In Spain, with its early spring and warm equable climate, it might be supposed that most birds would nest both early and more or less simultaneously. But this is not the case. The period of reproduction, with birds, appears to be prolonged proportionately as one approaches the equator. In the far north, where summer is short and sharply defined, this period is the same. Thus in the arctic lands of Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, it is limited to six weeks, and in Lapland and Siberia to two months or so, extending in Central Europe, roughly speaking, to three. In Andalucia domestic duties last, with one species or another, over half the year. There are cases in which nidification commences before Christmas--as with the Lammergeyer, Bonelli's Eagle, and the Eagle-Owl: the Griffon Vultures and some others are only a little later. Whereas, on the other hand, some of the herons do not nest till June: _aedon galactodes_ and the Little Bustard are still incubating in July, and the Flamingoes breed so late that their young can hardly be on the wing before the latter month.

Among the earlier breeders is the Spanish Green Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, which drills deep holes in the hard wood of cork-oak or olive, and lays six s.h.i.+ning white eggs in March. Now (April) they had young, but rear a second brood in May. Though they are so abundant, yet the "tapping" sound characteristic of the Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs is not heard in the Spanish forests, for their food consists of ants and of the small, red and black beetles that cl.u.s.ter in every crevice of the rough cork-bark.

The Rollers were also laying in mid-April--here in hollow trees, elsewhere in crevices of rocks or ruins: but wherever their treasure may be, the silly birds are sure to disclose its position by their incessant "caterwauling," and anxious, tumbling flight. On the 17th April we found the first nest of the Southern Grey Shrike (_Lanius meridionalis_) in a high mastic-bush. The nest resembled that of the Missel-Thrush, the five eggs larger and more darkly marbled than those of the northern _L.

excubitor_. Nests of the Woodchat (_L. rufus_) may be found in almost every bush from May 10th onward, and the Bee-eaters have then formed swarming colonies in the river-banks like Sand-Martins.

As remarkable a freak as any in nature is the system of reproduction by proxy adopted by the Great Spotted Cuckoo (_Coccystes glandarius_). This smart and handsome bird, though more abundant in Estremadura and the Castiles, is fairly numerous on the wooded prairies of Andalucia, where its curious nesting habits may be observed with ease. The parasitic habits of the European _Cuculidae_ are well known--none of these birds building a nest or rearing their own young. Our British Cuckoo deposits its eggs singly in the nests of hedge-sparrow, warbler, wagtail, or other small bird--it is not particular which. The Spotted Cuckoo, however, does not impose this duty of rearing her young upon her neighbours generally, but almost exclusively upon the common Magpie: though exceptionally upon the Azure-winged species (_Cyanopica cookii_) and the Raven as well. At the Encinar del Visco, during the past year (1891), the writer found two of the Cuckoo's eggs in a nest of that bird, along with three eggs (one broken) of the owner.[54]

The Spotted Cuckoo, moreover, lays eggs so exactly resembling those of the selected foster-mother (the Magpie) as to be hardly distinguishable.

On close examination, it is true, they do differ in their more ellipitic form and granular surface: but, unless previously aware and specially on the look-out, no one, probably, would suspect they were not Magpie's eggs--apparently not even that cute bird itself does so. Even so experienced an ornithologist as Canon Tristram failed to discriminate the difference--this was in Algeria--till the zygo-dactylic foot of the embryos betrayed the secret (_Ibis_, 1859).

The Spotted Cuckoo deposits two, three, and even four eggs in the _same_ Magpie's nest--sometimes leaving the original owner's eggs undisturbed, in other cases removing all or part of them: we have noticed spilt yolk and the sh.e.l.ls of broken eggs at the entrance to the nest and on the branches below. Hatched thus, in the domed and enclosed nests of the Magpie, it seems difficult for the young Spotted Cuckoos to eject their pseudo-brothers and sisters; but we cannot speak definitely as to this detail in the early life-history of these curious usurpers of hearth and home.

The only egg of the Common Cuckoo we have ever found in Spain was in a nest of the Stonechat. This was on April 23rd, and there were four eggs of the Stonechat. The Cuckoo is common in Spain on pa.s.sage, arriving early in April; a few remain to breed, and we have heard their note up to the end of May, but the majority pa.s.s on northwards at once.

The Azure-winged Magpie, above referred to, is very local in the south.

It nests not far from Jerez, and in some numbers near Coria del Rio, but is much more abundant in the wooded _vegas_ of Cordova, and still more so in Estremadura and Castile, actually swarming near Talavera de la Reyna, at Aranjuez, etc. Their nests, placed on bushes rather than trees, resemble a Jay's, slightly built of sticks exteriorly, and completed with green moss, dry gra.s.s, etc., and contain five or six eggs. Half-a-dozen nests may often be found within a hundred yards. An active, sprightly bird, exclusively confined to the Spanish Peninsula.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AZURE-WINGED MAGPIES.]

The Jay, though common in the mountain-forests, and in Portugal, is not seen on the South-Spanish plains; but the Magpie absolutely swarms.

During lunch one day I counted upwards of seventy in sight at a time, and from one spot. A rushy glade before us was dotted all over with them; their pied b.r.e.a.s.t.s surmounted nearly every bush. Further away, I also counted during the half-hour's halt (without including such small fry as Kestrels, etc.) no less than twenty-one large birds of prey--several Kites of both kinds, a soaring Buzzard or two, Marsh-and Montagu's Harriers, and at least a pair of eagles.

Such a spectacle would probably break the heart of an orthodox British gamekeeper; to preserve any fair head of game in presence of such an array of "vermin"--both powerful raptores and cunning egg-thieves--he would certainly a.s.sert to be impossible. So, in England, it probably would be; yet here our game-books record bags varying from 150 to 300 partridge, besides other game, in a day, and totals of from 1,000 to 1,200 head and upwards in a fortnight's shooting. Yet those who advocate the _status quo_ in nature and condemn dogmatically any interference therewith by the hand of man, would be wrong in jumping to the conclusion that the co-existence in Spain of a considerable head of game with a host of their most powerful enemies, is any solid substantiation of their theories, in a _general_ sense.

To this question of nature's balance of life we may devote a little s.p.a.ce; it is seldom so simple as at first sight may appear. Here in Spain its solution depends on factors some of which do not exist and would have, consequently, no bearing at home; but the general features of the particular case in point may be summed up in three lines: (1) Spain is a land teeming with reptile-life; (2) The reptiles in the aggregate are the most deadly enemies to game; and (3) it is upon reptiles that the raptorial birds habitually prey.

The large eagles, it is true, prefer rabbits and partridges to anything else; but the "catch" of their smaller relatives, the Booted and Serpent-Eagles, the Kites, Buzzards and Hawks, is composed chiefly of reptiles--lizards, snakes, blindworms, salamanders, and the like--as well as the larger insects, such as locusts, cicadas, scorpions, gra.s.shoppers, the huge horned scarabaei and other coleoptera of which so great a variety abound in Southern Spain. At the end of this chapter we annex a brief a.n.a.lysis, the result of a number of post-mortem examinations of the crops and stomachs of various raptorial birds, which shows pretty conclusively that while game, etc., is included in their _menu_, by far the greater portion of their attack is directed against the reptile race--itself the most pernicious to game and all the defenceless creation. It is, in fact, a warfare of raptor _versus_ raptorem, of feathered freebooter against scaled marauder, and the harmless and peaceful balance of creation benefit by that internecine state of war.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EYED-LIZARD AND SERPENT-EAGLE]

The destruction that is wrought by the larger reptiles is difficult to exaggerate; both snakes and lizards are inveterate egg-stealers, and also devour large quant.i.ties of young game, whether furred or feathered, besides other creatures. Gliding noiselessly, rapidly, and with an infinite stealth, their approach is imperceptible, whether through brushwood or scrub, through shallow water or yielding sand, whether above ground or below--they penetrate the deep burrows of rabbit or Bee-eater, and scale the loftiest fortresses of tree-nesting species.

Equally at home on the ground or amongst the topmost branches, nothing can well escape the larger serpents and saurians. Were they not held in check by nature's counterpoise, hardly a young rabbit could survive, or a Partridge, Quail, or Wild Duck succeed in rearing their broods.

Neither ground nor tree-nesting birds are safe: we have seen a Cushat's nest which in the morning had contained its two eggs, occupied towards evening by the sleeping coils of a green Eyed Lizard (_Lacerta ocellata_), measuring nearly a yard in length, and thousands of promising families are yearly called into existence only to provide sustenance for cold-blooded, scaly saurians.

Here are three or four examples extracted from our note-book:--

"_April 23rd._--While on the sand-ridge overlooking the laguna de Santolalla, watching a pair of Marbled Ducks, some Crested Grebes, etc., heard subterranean scuffling and rumblings. Presently two rabbits bolted, and from a hole close by emerged the writhing tail of a great green lizard, backing out, and dragging, by an engulfed hind leg, a half-grown rabbit, too terrified to squeal. In some rushes we lost sight of the reptile, but two minutes later, put him out and shot him. The hapless rabbit was then gorged--head downwards."

"_May 18th._--Dug out a Bee-eater's colony--some of the tunnels quite eight or ten feet deep. In two of the nests found snakes, coiled up. One big black fellow entombed the remains of four or five Bee-eaters, swallowed entire, besides many eggs. The smaller snake contained eggs and a brace of Field-mice."

"_May 23rd._--Heard two Partridges in a great state of excitement; coming up, saw a snake in the act of devouring a half-feathered chick.

The brute, which only measured three feet, nine inches, already contained four young Partridges!"

"_June 9th._--Shot a huge _Coluber_, six feet two inches, greatly distended in centre. On opening him found two nearly full-grown rabbits, swallowed whole."

Under such conditions, the presence of the hawk-tribe is an actual advantage to the game-preserver--they are his under-keepers and vermin-trappers. No doubt, were it possible, _first_, to put down effectually the rapacious reptiles, and _then_ to thin the ranks of the rapacious birds, the result would be a prodigious increase in the numbers of the game and other defenceless creatures on which they prey.

This--_mutatis mutandis_--is practically what game-preservation has accomplished in England; but in Spain the physical conditions are different, and it is more than questionable if any similar measure of success could there be attained. Not Don Quixote himself ever conceived an enterprise more chimerical than the extermination of the snakes in La Mancha or Andalucia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EAGLE'S SWOOP.]

With the first of the daylight the eagles and most of the larger raptores turn out for their morning hunt, and during the heat of the day retire to enjoy a siesta on the peak of some lofty oak or pine, where they remain conspicuously perched for hours together. Towards evening predatory operations are generally resumed. It is curious to observe their different methods of going to work; the Kites sweep about with buoyant, desultory flight, not unlike large gulls; the _Circaetus_ wheels in wide circles over the cistus-scrub; Montagu's Harrier hunts with impetuous flight, in long, straight bee-lines close over the _mancha_, always appearing about to alight but not doing so. But for systematic searching-out of a breadth of land, none compare with the Imperial Eagle; usually in pairs, these n.o.ble tyrants choose a line of country, and with wide sweeps to right and left, crossing and recrossing each other at the central point like well-trained setters, they beat miles of scrub in a few hours, while a Buzzard or Marsh-Harrier will hover and circle round a single spot and spend half a day over a few acres of rushes. Nothing can well escape the eagles; shortly one of the pair detects the hidden game--for an instant his flight is checked to a.s.sure a deadly aim, then with collapsed wings, and a rus.h.i.+ng sound which is distinctly audible a quarter of a mile away, he dashes headlong to earth. A second or two later, he rises with loud vociferations, and a hapless rabbit suspended from his yellow claws. Their short, sharp bark is repeatedly uttered by the eagles while hunting. Rabbits seem to const.i.tute nine-tenths of their prey, to judge from the golgotha of these little animals' skulls below their nests.

The Stone-Curlew (_dicnemus crepitans_) is another fine species characteristic of the scrub, where it is resident or at least is found throughout the year, and their rectilineal footprints are everywhere visible on the sandy deserts. On these flat plains they are most difficult of access, and if winged, run like a hare; towards evening they become very noisy, piping something like a Curlew in spring--on the night of April 16th, while skinning a lynx by the light of our fire, the air around seemed full of them, their vociferations resounding from every side. We found the first nest, or rather a single egg lying on bare sand, on April 18th. We have come across these birds in widely different situations; high out on the barren stony mountains of the Minho, in Northern Portugal, packs of them frequented the few damp spots along the courses of the old Roman aqueducts--how few such weak spots were, testifies to the solidity of these ancient works. This was in November. Their local name there was "Mountain Curlew" (Masarico de montes). Apropos of these hills, the following rather curious incidents are perhaps worth recording. Far out among the boulder-strewn ridges, while Red-leg shooting, we used to find numbers of Green Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs miles away from trees--they were attracted thither by the swarms of ants. Nightjars (_Caprimulgus europaeus_) and Little Owls also abode there; the latter fluttered out from under one's feet, and after a most un-owlish, up-and-down flight, would dive back under some big boulder, more like a fish than a bird. Small flights of Teal also resorted to these heights during the day, sitting among the heather, and returning to the marshes at night.

FOOD OF SPANISH RAPTORIAL BIRDS--a.n.a.lyses of examinations of their crops--as follows:--

(_See_ p. 259.)