The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-30
A RAMBLE IN SPAIN.

the spectacle of a wild and beautiful
country in its most perfect pristine
condition, exactly as turned out by
nature, not yet disfgured or s.im.
proved" by the hand of man, and
practically unchanged since the days
of the Moors, and, in fact, for ages
before them. Every day one sees
many of those forms of bird and ami
NAL life which in our crowded islands
have long ceased to exist, anc only re.
main to the naturalists of to-day in the
form of bad pictures in books OF
worse specimens in museums. Among
the rolling corn lands the great bus
tard roams in plenty. Troops of fifty
or sixty of this noble game bird, the
largest of that class, NAV be seen to-
gether, their great fawn-colored bod
les and long necks resembling a herd
of deer rather than birds. Then there
are the lesser bustards, and on every
side resounds the triple note of the
quail. On the open plains before
mentioned the royal kite and the buz-
zard-both these, like the bustard,
about extinct at home-are ever in
sight gracefully circline over the
brushwood with keen eve for an out
lying rabbit, or one of the large and
beautifully colored lizards which
abound therein.
But for the particular behoof of the
reptile world nature has designed and
commissioned a special class of armed
cruiser, the "Colebrero," or snake
eater, as the Spaniards call him, which
is often deserted busily employed at
his vocation. Then those dark-brown
fellows with creamy heads hover
ing over marshy hollow, their
motionless wings set at a sharp
angle, are moor buzzards, while the
long winged kind, which look like gi-
ganlc swallows are their cousins, the
ash-colored harrier, the most indus
trious and hard working creature Of
his kind. Of small birds, there is an
infinite variety, many clad in the
brightest hues, which harmonize ad-
mirably with the sunny scene. Some
of these, such as the bee eaters, the
blue jay, and the golden oriole almost
rival in brilliancy the gaudy denizens
of the tropics. Not only are their
plumages most vivid in color, but they
possess glossy reflections, which in the
bright southern sun sparkle like few
els Every now and then a covey of
the large Spanish partridge rise with
startling suddenness; their numbers
are surprising when one considers the
unceasing persecution they undergo
from the native ''cazadores" and the
quantity of birds of prey. these latter
forming characteristic feature in the
Spanish landscape.
Besides birds, these broad, undula-
ting plains and prairie lands are the
native home of the wild-bred Spanish
bull. Here he roams at large from mis-
birth till the day he receives his death
thrust at the hand of the matador. A
formidable beast he is, perhaps the
only one inclined to dispute the do
minIon of man. The wild-bred Span
ish bull is ready to assume the Often
sive, and provoke a combat in the
open. He stands his ground resenting
intrusion on his domains with low,
deep roar of defiance, viciously paw
ing the ground and throwing up clouds
of dust with his four feet
Beyond the fertile but externally
somewhat monotonous regions of the
vine and corn, the Spanish horizon is
usually bounded by the blush loom of
distant mountain range. But before
this can be reached very different re-
gion must be traversed. The sierras
are usually encircled by broad zone,
of low, broken hills and undulating
plateallx, beautifully clothed in strag-
CLING natural woods. Luxuriant groves
of oaks, chestnuts, and cork trees oc-
cupy the ridges, while the valleys are
filled with dense masses of arbutus,
lenticus, wild olive, some kind of
laurel, cistus, and other shrubs. Here
and there whole acres glow with the
brilliant flowers of the rhododendron,
and the crimson peony adorns the
most arid places. In certain districts,
as one carefully picks ones way, rid
ing through brushwood as high as ones
shoulder, now and then a red deer
starts from the thicket almost at ones
feet. Huge black snakes uncoil from
glide rapidly out of sight; then a coup
scrub. or a broad-winged kite slips
Overhead resounds the short, loud
bark of the imperial eagle, or perhaps
one of these magnificent birds may be
perched in massive outlines on the top
most limb of lofty oak, his white
epauIeIS pldlHly flSlDle III SHaTp Gull
trast to the glossy black plumage.
Probably for typical mountain seen
cry the Pyrenees and the hill region of
Gallicia and the Austrias are the finest
in the peninsula. But the great sier-
ras of the south have character of
their own which is not wanting either
in beauty or grandeur. The vast piles
of limestone, of which they are largely
composed, are blanched by the ages of
exposure till they shine in the sum
shine like white marble, relieved and
variegated by the dark green of the
brushwood, which grows thick wher-
ever among the rocks it can find soil
for its roots. Naturally these rugged
sierras are but ill adapted for cultiva-
ton. Here and there the mountain
eers have wrested from the stony de-
c1ivities little patch of corn land. In
this the hillmen compare favorably
with the more listless dwellers of the
plains. A keener sense of the strug-
Gle for existence no doubt develops
latent energies: but these sometimes
appear to increase in proportion to the
greater remoteness from the baneful
O. L