New-York tribune., 1911-02-05
SPAIN'S WILD FAUNA
A Book of Travel and Sport and
Observation.

UNEMPLOYED SPAIN. BY Abel Chap
man and Walter J. Buck. With 200 IL
lstrations hv joseph Crawhall. +. Cald-
well and Abel Chapman. and from pho
tographs. Large Svo. PIP. XVI, 40
Longmans. Green & Co.
\ book for the naturalist and the
sportsman first of all. "Unexplored
Spain" is incidentally. but in most
picturesque and informing way, de-
scription Of the Wild uncultivated re-
gions of the kingdom that cover no less
than - per cent Of its area. In addition,
It gives in broad. telling outlines sketch
of the fundamental character of the rural
s,paniard from Galica to Andalusia:
Throughout Spain the people of the lower
orders the peasantry-strike those VINO
leave the beaten tracks by their independ-
ence and manly bearing. North or south'
east or west. an infinite variety OF races.
differing in habit and character. even III
tongue. yet all agreeing In their solid man
lincSs. in STRAIGHTFORWARD honesty, IN What
the Romans entitled rtrfuS.
Mr. Chapman has already to his credit
several books of travel and sport and
naturalist study. among them wild
Spain upon which h draws from time
to time in these later pages. His collab-
orator on both that book and this one,
Mr.. Buck. is British Vice-Consul at
Jerez, and both boast Of more than
twenty years residence in Spain.
! Country life they tell us. as we of the
North understand the word. has no at
traction whatever for the Spaniard. rich
or poor. Fe detests the campo and
cings to the town and its diversions.
gossip being the first Of these. Even
suburban existence is eschewed. The
territorial magnate is an absentee land
lord, who squeezes his property, as does
the peasant his humble holding. Forest
preservation is an unknown principle Of
| economies:
Spain is frequently accused OF being a
| land of mdndrG. Hardly can We call 10
mind book on the country in which some
| acteristic that strikes us a. more appli-
| cable is rather the reverse. that of taking
no thought for the morrow.
1t is thus in forest destruction: IL is
thus in the matter of roads. which are
rot repaired in time. but allowed to go
to ruin, when they are reconstructed" 4"
1t is thus in the matter of game The
ibex has been eXterminatcd in most Of
IT'S old haunts: trout would abound but
for the utter disregard of such game
laws as exist Partridge survive i'm Spain
only because they are .ndestructitle. like
the Australian rabbit. The ibeX. that
Cble game animal. is now under proper
| ho lie Il 70
| King Alfonso's interest. and is begin
ming to increase i'm numbers. Either a
desert or a mountain solitude. "UneX-
! plOred Spain''-uneXplored that is. by
the foreign sportsman-still abounds.
| However, in game furred and feathered.
in lynx and wolf, wild boar, red deer.
chamois. and a multitude of small game.
among them many varieties of wild fowl,
although. except in the Biscayan region.
true game birds are rare II was Mr.
Chapman who long ago first observed the
nesting habits and method Of incubating
Of the namingJ, and announced 10 a
doubling world the existence in Spain
Of wild camels. living. curiously enough.
| in a swampy region, neighbors to these
tall. beautiful aquatic birds. He rccurs
to both topics in this book. offering the
confrmatory evidence that came 10 him
the moment his statement about the
camels was publicly questioned, in 1883.
The herd is descended from several ami
mails imported into Spain in 1899 by the
| MARQUIS of Nillafranca for purposes OF
transport and agriculture. The expert
mcnt was abandoned chiefly on account
Of the well known rcpugnancc Of the
horse for the camel. and the animals
turned loose i'm the watery wilderness.
where their descendants pasture on the
higher lying areas, placidly passing from
islet To islet through water three feet
deep, oblivious Of the desert dryness Of
their ancestral habitat
OF course, a book on Spain by sports
men would be incomplete without its
chapter, not only on bulfghtng, but
on the fighting bull as well. The au-
thors trace the sport. like so much else
in Spanish character and life and Gus
toms to the Moors with whom however
it was not a sport at all, but a workman
like training in the use Of arms AS for
the dangers run by bullfighters. tourists
who may soc the best matadors of the
country at Madrid are not fit d TO Judge:
The casual spectators unframed eye nee
essariy loses many of the finer passes -
much of the skilled technique and science
of tauromachian art. Finally. before
crystallzing a judgment critics should en-
deavor TO see few second or third rate
COrriddS. II is at these that the relative
values Of the forces opposed-brute strength
and human skill-are displayed in truer and
more speaking contrast. AT set bullhghts
of the first class the latter quality is often
so marked as partly To obscure the difiiCul-
ties ani dangers il SurmOuntS At
second rate fights the forces placed face Ia
face are more evenly balanced, and there IL
is often the bull that scores.
The foreign. sportsman vcnturing into
"Unexplored Spain" must be prepared
10 rough il. but he will be roughing ii
among a population whose hospitality is
offered with the grace, the courtesy and
the courtlress that characterize even
the humbest Spanish peasant. Stnl, the
pOSdddS range from bad To unspeakable
and camping in The open air is often
preferable 10 a nights rest IN the peas
ants crowded. unVcnulated nut. The
book is excellent reading, and another
well documcnted guide FOR the lover OF
sport To Il new domain worth visiting
The excellent illustrations are mostly
from drawings. the authors objecting 10
certain shortcomings of photography in
horcnt in its very superiority 10 the hu-
man eye in instantaneous litcralness of
vision.