Identifier: twomonthsonguada00with (find matches)
Title: Two months on the Guadalquiver
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Witherby, H. F. (Harry Forbes), 1873-1944
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: (London? : "Knowledge"?
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
place was infested with myriads of dragon flies,every rush being covered with its share of them. Once Igave one of our men, who seemed to have nothing to dobut smoke the delicious cigarillo, a net, and showing hima dragon fly told him to go and catch as many as he could,as I wanted some for a friend. He went off delighted,and stayed away three hours and came back with onebutterfly ! Cigarettes and the sun were too much for himwhen he had once sat down out of sight. On one occasion as we were watching some stilts andducks a peregrine falcon suddenly appeared circling over 80 On the Guadalquiver. their heads. The birds gradually became more and morefrightened, until at last they rose from the water and tooka short flight. Down came the falcon like a stone andknocked a duck on to the water, and there he left it floatingkeel uppermost. The ducks and stilts settled again, butthe falcon still circled overhead until the now terrifiedbirds rose again. This time he singled out a stilt, struck
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 11.—Stilts ^e=t strongly built in Wet G-round. it in a flash, and left it like the duck floating on the water.Apparently he was only practising or having some sport,for he swept right away and left his victims limp and dead.But a dead body is not left for long in this country wherehungry kites and birds of prey abound. One afternoon weshot and lost a duck and a slender-billed gull; the next * Larus gelastes. rweds and Rushes. 31 morning we visited the spot again, and on the edge of themarsh were two little heaps of feathers—one brown, theother a delicate pink—all that was left of the duck andthe beautiful gull. On the dry ground some distance from the marsh, orperhaps raised above it, many interesting birds werenesting, and all betrayed their anxiety as we approached.This they did in different ways, the pratincoles • with theirstrong swallow-like flight whirled round our heads andmade as much noise and fuss as the stilts. They oftensettled very near us, but instead of dan

Note About Images