Unexplored Spain Part 36

ORNITHOLOGY

For ornithologists the following notes on birds observed and not already mentioned may here be inserted:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROCK-THRUSH]

_Blue_ and _Rock-thrushes_.--Neither abundant, but the former most so in the rock-gorges of lower Monachil, nesting in "pot-holes" and horizontal crevices of the crags. The rock-thrush is more alpine and confined (here as elsewhere) exclusively to the higher sierra.

_Missel-thrushes_ among ilex-trees at 7000 feet, apparently nesting: a few _woodchats_ observed at same points.

_Blackstart._--Plentiful, though less so than on San Cristobal in Sierra de Jerez (5000 feet). A nest in the crag over-hanging our bathing-place in the burn at San Geronimo contained five eggs on April 28. We found others on Monachil, and _grey wagtails_ were also breeding at both places.

_Bonelli's Warbler._--Arrived, and preparing to nest, end of April: a few _white-throats_ and _rufous warblers_ early in May. Robins and wrens nesting, and _nightingales_ abundant in lower river-valley.

_Eared_ and _Black-throated Wheatear_.--Ubiquitous but not abundant. In both these forms (as well as in the Common Wheatear) the males displayed a dual stage of plumage; some being completely adult, while others retained an immature state somewhat resembling their first dress (May).

_Stonechat._--Four eggs, April 29.

_Blackchat_ and _Crag-martin_.--Both conspicuous by their absence.

[This applies to the higher sierra--both were observed in the lower Monachil--say 4000 feet.]

_Ortolans_ (apparently just arriving during early days of May), with _cirl_ and _rock-buntings_, were frequent up to the limits of scrub-growth, say 7500 feet.

_Rock-sparrow._--Breeding in crags on lower slopes.

_Woodlark._--Lower hills: young on wing, end April.

_Short-toed Lark._--Lower hills: about to nest here.

_Crested Lark._--Lower hills: common.

_Tawny Pipit._--Plentiful, scattered in pairs over the arid hills: males singing tree-pipit fashion, soaring downwards with tail spread overhead.

_Great_, _Blue_, and _Cole-t.i.ts_.--Common, the latter only among the open woods of pine (_Pinus pinaster_).

_Raven_ and _Chough_.--A few.

_Hoopoe_, _Kestrel_, and _Little Owl_.--A few.

_Partridge_ (redleg).--Scarce: a pair and a single bird observed at 8000 feet among snow-patches and junipers.

_Chaffinches_ and _Serins_.--First broods on wing, end April; nests for second broods building early in May.

_Linnets._--Common up to scrub-limit.

_Dippers._--Observed on Genil, Darro, Monachil, and all the rivers visited.

_Pied Flycatcher._--A male observed on migration, April 30.

In the stupendous rock-gorges which enclose the lower course and outlet of Monachil (3500-5000 feet) are situate the breeding-places of the few griffon-vultures which inhabit this sierra. With them nest some Neophrons, and there is a "Choughery" at 4000 feet, while crag-martins and blackchats (not observed elsewhere), with many blue thrushes, find a congenial home among these giant crags.

While lunching, our goat-herd guide was pointing out rock-crannies where wolves, from lack of brushwood, used to lie up by day, and complaining that he could not keep poultry by reason of the marten-cats. Suddenly he broke out in shrill and altered tones: "Tell me, Caballero," he exclaimed, "tell me _why_ you come here from lands afar to suffer discomfort and hardship and to undergo all these labours--why do you do this?" We endeavoured to explain. "You see, Gregorio, that G.o.d created all manner of animals different one from another. So also He created mankind in many different races--all brothers, yet differing as brothers do. You Spanish belong to the Latin race. You have many fine qualities, some of which we lack. But you rather concern yourselves with material things and disregard platonic study. We of British race are imbued with desire to learn all that can be traced of Nature and her ways. Some examine the earth itself, its formations and transformations; others the birds or the beasts. There are those who devote their lives to studying the beetles and ants, even the mosquitoes. Now in Spain you find none who are interested in such matters."

Gregorio sat silent and seemed impressed; but Caraballo interjected: "Why waste time? These people are not concerned (_entrometidos_) in such matters." True; but Gregorio had appeared interested and intelligent?

"Si! but when folk spent lonely lives among the mountains and never see but a petty hill-village once or twice a year, then intelligence goes to sleep (_se pone dormido_)." Certainly five minutes later they were both hammering away again at the customary small-talk of the by-ways.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TYPES OF SPANISH BIRD-LIFE

SPANISH SPARROW (_Pa.s.ser hispaniolensis_ [_sic_], Temm.)

A bird of the wild woods, never seen in towns; builds in foundations of kites' and eagles' nests. Note that Temminck's Latin seems a bit "rocky." The specific name might be _hispanicus_, or perhaps _hispaniensis_, but _hispaniolensis_ never. That adjective must date from a newer era and from a world then unknown.]

CHAPTER x.x.xII

VALENCIA

TWO NOTABLE WILDFOWL RESORTS

(1) THE ALBUFERA

For centuries this marine lagoon--the largest sheet of water in Spain--has, along with the forests and wastes that formerly adjoined it, been a stronghold of wild animal-life. As early as the thirteenth century King James I., after wresting the Kingdom of Valencia from the Moors, and dividing its castles and estates among his n.o.bles and generals, selected, with shrewd appreciation, the Albufera for his personal share of the spoils of war. For not only did the great lake with its wild appanages form a truly regal hunting-domain, but the broad lands intervening between the Grao of Valencia, Cullera, and the lake-sh.o.r.es possessed a fabled fertility.

For six centuries the lands and waters of Albufera belonged to the Spanish Crown. Though by edict in A.D. 1250 James I. granted free public rights of fishing (reserving, however, one-fifth of the catch for royal use), yet both he and succeeding monarchs ever continued to extend and improve the amenities of the Crown Patrimony.

In State-papers of James I.'s time, where reference is made to the game, there are expressly specified: "Deer, wild-boar, ibex, francolins, partridges, hares, rabbits, otters, and wildfowl, besides the wealth of fish" in the lake itself. Again, more than four centuries later, an edict of October 31, 1671, expressly specified among resident game, "deer, boar, ibex, and francolin." Now the francolin, although to-day extinct in Spain, is known to have existed on the Mediterranean till quite within modern times, and the other animals named might well have abounded in the wild forests of those days. But the specific mention of ibex (_twice_, with an interval of 400 years) appeared inexplicable; for it was inconceivable that a wild-goat should ever have occupied the low-lying _dehesas_ of Albufera. The discovery of the actual existence of ibex in the sierras of Valencia, however (as recorded above, p. 142), explains the paradox and also throws light on the breadth of mediaeval ideas in hunting-boundaries; since the Sierra Martes lies some forty miles inland of Albufera.

Lying about seven miles south-east of Valencia, the lake has a water-area some fourteen miles long by six or seven wide, its circ.u.mference being over nine leagues. On the south, it is shut off from the Mediterranean by a strip of pine-clad dunes--the deep green foliage broken in pleasing contrast by intervals of bare sand, forming splashes of gold amidst dark verdure. On all other sides the limits of the lake are marked by yellow reeds which fringe its sh.o.r.es.

Its waters, dotted with the white sails of _faluchos_, present the appearance of a small sea, a resemblance which is accentuated in stormy weather by the height of the waves.

The lake connects by ca.n.a.ls with various adjacent villages; while two ca.n.a.ls (Perillo and Perillonet) communicate with the sea, though their mouths are blocked by locks. These locks are closed each year from November 1 till January 1--thereby retaining the whole of the river-waters from inland, in order to raise the interior water-level and so flood the surrounding rice-fields.

This artificial inundation--by disseminating alluvial matter brought down by autumnal rains over the adjacent lands--has greatly extended the area of rice-cultivation, and, of course, equally reduced the original water-surface. The result has been, nevertheless, immensely to augment the enormous numbers of wildfowl which had always made the Albufera their winter home; for no food is so attractive to ducks as rice, while, despite its reduction, the water-area is yet ample.

During the direct tenure of the Crown, all taking of fish or fowl was carried on subject to the regulations of successive kings and their administrators. Ancient methods of fowling, however quaint, do not concern us as natural historians; but two methods described in mult.i.tudinous records throw light on altered conditions and sharpened instincts. The first was to "push" the fowl by a line of boats towards sportsmen in concealed posts among reeds, the ducks either swimming complacently forward or breaking back over the encircling flotilla, when, in each case, large numbers were killed with crossbows. To celebrate the nuptials of Phillip III., no less than 300 boats were thus employed. The second plan involved persuading hosts of quietly paddling ducks to swim forward into reed-beds through which winding channels had been cut, and over which nets were spread.

Needless to add, neither method would nowadays serve to outwit twentieth-century wildfowl.

By the beginning of last century (about 1830), owing to the destruction of forests and reclamation of land for grazing or rice-cultivation, the bigger game had already disappeared; but the flights of winter wildfowl actually increased in proportion to the extended area of rice.

The Albufera continued to be the property of the Crown of Spain from 1250 till May 12, 1865, when the Cortes decreed, and Queen Isabella II.

confirmed, its transference to the State.

At the present day the shooting on Albufera is conducted on purely commercial and up-to-date principles. The whole area is mapped out into sections like a chessboard, and each considerable gun-post (or _replaza_, as it is called) is sold by auction.