[75] The following note, being made from experience and on the spot, may be worth inserting:—In driving large game of any kind, be careful to make a good screen: there is always time to build up a breastwork either of branches, or rocks, or snow, or whatever the material at hand may be. If placed behind a thick bush, cut a deep nick into it with the hunting-knife, so that one stands well back—i.e., right into the bush, and appears to form an integral part thereof. How glad one is of these little precautions when game appears!
[76] It may, however, fairly be added that we were using, in those days, spherical bullets and the old cylinder smooth-bores—always erratic in ball-practice beyond forty or fifty yards. All that is now superseded by the introduction of the Paradox rifled gun (Col. Fosbery's patent), one of the prettiest inventions and most remarkable improvements in modern gunnery. With this beautiful weapon, which shoots ball as accurately as a rifle, and comes to the eye as handy as a game-gun, no distracting doubts need flurry one's aim at flying stag or boar within one hundred yards; even snap-shots in covert are now a luxury instead of the nerve-and temper-trying ordeal of yore. Such is the power and penetration of the hollow-fronted conical ball that we have "raked" a stag from stem to stern at one hundred and forty yards, the bullet entering his chest, and lodging near the root of the tail almost undamaged, after traversing the whole of the animal's vitals. For all Spanish large game, the 12-bore Paradox, weighing 7¼ lbs., and burning 3½ drs. of powder, is an admirable weapon, and, except for ibex and deer-stalking in the higher cordilleras, where very long shots may be necessary, it almost takes the place of the heavier express rifle.
[77] "Quien come carne de Grulla, vive cien años."
[78] These old and cunning stags do not always break covert so readily, as the following incident will show. We had tracked a hart for some miles, till eventually the trail led towards quite a small clump—not two acres—of 20-ft. gorse and tree-heath with an outer fringe of bamboo, all growing on dry ground, though entirely surrounded by flood-water. Every indication pointed to the stag having couched in this congenial covert; the hunters, however, traversed it without moving game. The water-weeds outside showed no sign of the stag having passed onward: but, to make sure, we took a wide cast on the drier ground beyond, separating so as completely to encircle the mancha. No vestige of a trail could be seen; clearly the beast still lay in the recesses of his island-sanctuary. The gun once more took up his position to leeward, and the covert was beaten again—this time more effectively, for presently, amid crash of branches and bamboos, the stag, which had been lying like a hare in its form, bounded out across the shallow marsh—with the usual result!
[79] Where exact dates are mentioned in the following table they refer to the earliest or the latest occurrences, respectively, that have come under our notice.
[80] Corrigendum:—Though we have stated ([p. 243]) that the Raven breeds late in Spain, it also does so early, for Mr. Saunders writes us:—"At Malaga it was nesting by mid-February, and near Baza I watched a pair feeding their young between 15th and 20th March."
