Part 25 (1/2)

A black point that from camp I had mentally noted as a landmark proved to be a listening felspar, big as a village church!

[Illustration: ”THE WAY OF AN EAGLE IN THE AIR”

(LAMMERGEYER--_Gypaetus barbatus_)]

I had demanded four hours, and precisely within that period reached her still--where, I could not see But my own post seemed to me as subli apex of the Spains and the centre of dispersal of four giant gorges each bristling with bewildering chaos of crags and rock-ruin, while above, to right and left, towered yet loftier _riscos_

At these serene altitudes life appeared non-existent The last signs of a cryptogales or vultures soaring al specks

Yet shortly before reaching our posts, along one of those awesome shelves with a 500-feet drop below, a touch fronificent old ibex-ra some 300 yards above So slow and deliberate were his aze, that tiain a rational position and to enjoy for several h binoculars Twice he halted in front of s horns were set off in perfect detail Then with ood each foot-hold, alternated by oat vanished froion that already our drivers were encoht not have seen the last of him

Two herds of ibex, it transpired, were enclosed in this beat; one co nine females and small beasts, the second tith a two-year-old ra friend was seen no more

I had, however, enjoyed a scene that went far to coht the two lads who had acco fifteen hours on Wednesday, he could do no more, slept at a _venta_, and reached Avila (which he considers twenty leagues from Ornillos, the spot where he left us) at noon on Thursday, where he caught the Sud-express, and to-night will be in Paris He sent us a few pencilled words, urging us to utoats, as this will be in all probability our _last chance_ I agree, for the natives kill off male and female alike, only a feily old rams remain, a mere fraction of the stock which forh tops to pasture their herds for a feeeks each sulect When Don Manuel Silvela, the stateso, souna de Gredos Not a quarter of that nuust 26_--Everything outside the tents was frozen solid last night, but with sunrise the teoes up with a bound We had trout for breakfast, caught by hand from the burn below To-day the as easier, for the two beats were both small and more or less on the saave no result We thentill we found ourselves on the sue and upon the unas de Gredos The plains of Castile lay beneath us like a lass though not without Bertra the topmost peaks, myself in a similar _portilla_ rather lower down An hour later Dionsio, who had cli above nalled as he hung over the edge of his eyrie that so Then he slid down toslowly up the gorge Dionsio returned to his ledge, and for half an hour I enjoyed that state of breathless suspense when one expects each oats, I perceived, h this _portilla_ on one side or the other of the rock behind which I lay expectant At last there caught entle patter of horned hoofs on rocks, but oh! it was succeeded by the bang of a gun

Dionsio had fired froe twenty yards above me The three ibex had co, as it were, down a tunnel The wind had been right enough, but it appeared an erratic puff had elected to blow straight froht it, and in a flash disappeared down the ravine, Dionsio, as he hung fro shot That was friend Dionsio's version of the event What actually occurred, all who are experienced in this wild-hunting will divine without our telling I ran fro the lip of the abyss--luckily there was a bit of fairly good going--hoping to get a chance as the ga a shot, the beaters far below joined in a chorus of wild yells to push theoats passed beyond e I no there were four in all--three females and a handsome ram Dionsio made a further effort to turn them, which so far succeeded that the raher pass, where he ran the gauntlet of Bertram within thirty yards Now the whole stress and burden of a laborious expedition fell upon the youngest shoulders, for B was barely out of his teens, and un than with ball The responsibility proved alreat--almost, but not quite; for one bullet had taken effect, and the rocks beyond the little ”pass” were sprinkled with blood The late hour, 4 PM, and the long scraht, but the ram was recovered some two miles beyond the point where we had last seen him--horn measurements 24-1/8 inches, by 8-1/4 inches basal circumference

[Illustration: TWO SPANISH IBEX SHOT IN SIERRA DE GReDOS, JULY, 1910

MARQUeS DE VILLAVICIOSA DE ASTEREAS

MARQUeS DE VIANA

TWO SPANISH IBEX SHOT IN SIERRA DE GReDOS, JULY, 1910]

The beaters reported having seen several ibex during this drive, two small rams, females, and kids--thirteen in all We devoted a couple more days to this section of the sierra, but both proved unsuccessful so far as regards the one grand ibex-ram which we had seen Here, on the Riscos del Fraile, and later on at Villarejo, we each spared small beasts; but at last were fain to be content with a three-year-old goat, whose head adorns our walls

Before daylight ere aroused by the breaking-up of camp, and by seven o'clock had taken a doard course from that lofty eyrie which we had occupied for ten days It was a lovely ride with bright sunlight lighting up every detail of the ht evidence of the lowering altitude--first, in green herbage, then in brushwood and stunted trees, till at ion of pines in the cool valley of the river Tor prepared, enjoyed a swim in those crystal torrents That afternoon was devoted to trout, but with lea that moved in the waters could be seen, and doubtless its denizens enjoyed a sis in the other element At any rate, none save the smaller trout would look at a fly; so we continued our journey, following the river-side in the direction of the one to a hamlet lower down for bread and wine There was no bread, and having to wait till it was baked, delayed the h pine-woods with the beautiful strea a few bird-specih none of antic nests of the black vulture, flat platforms of sticks, each superimposed on the summit of a lofty pine Even in these uplands the black vulture nests in March, when the whole land is yet enveloped in snow, and while frequent snowstorms sweep down the valleys

So closely does the parent vulture incubate, that she allows herself to be co snow On these hanging steeps the eyries are overlooked fro vulture can be seen until she is disturbed by a blow frooes, dislodging a cloud of snow fros as she launches into space

[Illustration: BLACK VULTURE (_Vultur , often boldly marked and suffused with dark-brown and rusty blotches and splashes, in contrast with the eggs of the griffon vulture, which are usually colourless or, at most, but faintly shaded

The latter, so abundant in Andalucia, is reles than vultures The chief bird-for-ouzels, rock-thrush and black-chat (_Dromolaea leucura_) The alpine accentor (_Accentor collaris_) and alpine pipit (_Anthus spipoletta_) also reach to the highest summits; the blue thrush lower down

In the valley of the Tor the pines many British species were at home, such as blackbirds and thrushes, redstarts, nuthatches, and Dartford warblers; besides the two southern wheatears, since found to be but _one_ dimorphic form!

THE RISCOS DE VILLAREJO

Three hours later the mule-train overtook us, and we pursued the track upwards towards the Riscos de Villarejo till darkness obliged us to enca our destination, looked far ae could go no nearer to-night, and outspanned on a tiny lawn on the mountain-slope Once more we had left tree and shrub far below, but the dry _piorno_-scrub al supper The hunters, with their stew-pots balanced on stones, sat round us in a circle

Nextere alert, as usual, before the dawn--called at 4 AM--and off again on another terrible clih turnips this 1st of September, but one more effort to interview in his haunts the Spanish mountain-ram